Pretty Shiny Things

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To coincide with our first long holiday trip, Scout got sick. Also a first. Months ago she did have that one really bad night of crying and ear pulling when we were certain it was an ear infection, but the doctor said it was just teething. JOKE’S ON YOU, DOC! Not one tooth yet. The sickness wasn’t THAT bad, but when you’re not in your own home for six days it just seemed harder to comfort her. Plus, I was dealing with my own really bad cough that I was certain an x-ray would show pneumonia covering my lungs. Again, it only seemed worse because I wasn’t in my own home, in the socks I stole from the hospital, watching Kendra. I am really bad when it comes to being sick and seeing a doctor. It’s not that I don’t go. In fact, that’s the only part I get right. Before Scout, I’d get sick and go to the doctor and he’d recommend whatever and I’d fill a prescription and that would be that. But once I got home Ben would ask if i asked him about ______ or he’d ask me if I talked to the doctor about _______. The answer was always no. Sometimes he’d even ask what the doctor had said and I could barely remember everything and would always just wave my hand in the air and pass it off as “y’know, medical terms.” Once I got pregnant, there were plenty of doctor appointments scheduled for me and I didn’t mind at all that Ben was practically the only father in the obstetrician’s office for every single one. We would usually discuss what we wanted to talk to the doctor about before each visit, and with him in the room I never had to repeat whatever advice or explanation the doctor gave me. Now that there is a tiny person that relies on me to keep her alive, this problem of mine has grown difficult. I will volunteer to call the pediatrician after Ben and I discuss the main points of our concerns…only to forget a key one. The sad part is that I won’t even realize I forgot it. After speaking with the nurse, I will proudly repeat everything I diligently reported to the nurse and the course of action she suggested. “But did you tell her about ______?” he’ll ask. And of course, I hadn’t. The real problem here is that the advice we are receiving from medical professionals seems too simple. We have been dealing with my bad cough and her runny nose for SIX DAYS, people. You cannot make us believe that nasal saline is just going to cure us. Ben ESPECIALLY won’t believe this because I am notorious for leaving out important information and/or forgetting key medical advice. But once we were back in our own house, in our comfy socks and bad tv, things did seem better. I would also like to note that we were also able to keep a strict saline spray schedule (at my insistence, natch).

To coincide with our first long holiday trip, Scout got sick. Also a first. Months ago she did have that one really bad night of crying and ear pulling when we were certain it was an ear infection, but the doctor said it was just teething. JOKE’S ON YOU, DOC! Not one tooth yet.

The sickness wasn’t THAT bad, but when you’re not in your own home for six days it just seemed harder to comfort her. Plus, I was dealing with my own really bad cough that I was certain an x-ray would show pneumonia covering my lungs. Again, it only seemed worse because I wasn’t in my own home, in the socks I stole from the hospital, watching Kendra.

I am really bad when it comes to being sick and seeing a doctor. It’s not that I don’t go. In fact, that’s the only part I get right.

Before Scout, I’d get sick and go to the doctor and he’d recommend whatever and I’d fill a prescription and that would be that. But once I got home Ben would ask if i asked him about ______ or he’d ask me if I talked to the doctor about _______. The answer was always no. Sometimes he’d even ask what the doctor had said and I could barely remember everything and would always just wave my hand in the air and pass it off as “y’know, medical terms.”

Once I got pregnant, there were plenty of doctor appointments scheduled for me and I didn’t mind at all that Ben was practically the only father in the obstetrician’s office for every single one. We would usually discuss what we wanted to talk to the doctor about before each visit, and with him in the room I never had to repeat whatever advice or explanation the doctor gave me.

Now that there is a tiny person that relies on me to keep her alive, this problem of mine has grown difficult. I will volunteer to call the pediatrician after Ben and I discuss the main points of our concerns…only to forget a key one. The sad part is that I won’t even realize I forgot it. After speaking with the nurse, I will proudly repeat everything I diligently reported to the nurse and the course of action she suggested.

“But did you tell her about ______?” he’ll ask. And of course, I hadn’t.

The real problem here is that the advice we are receiving from medical professionals seems too simple. We have been dealing with my bad cough and her runny nose for SIX DAYS, people. You cannot make us believe that nasal saline is just going to cure us. Ben ESPECIALLY won’t believe this because I am notorious for leaving out important information and/or forgetting key medical advice.

But once we were back in our own house, in our comfy socks and bad tv, things did seem better. I would also like to note that we were also able to keep a strict saline spray schedule (at my insistence, natch).