When the baby gets sick

my sick baby

Your baby's first illness is one that will get your worry juices flowing in overdrive. Vivian experienced her first illness, at 2 months, after a trip to see her baby cousins out of state. Maybe she caught it from a cousin, maybe it was from someone on the plane; who knows. What I do know is that we experienced a few sleepless and worry filled nights. Vivian's first cold included running nose, cough, watery eyes, and a lot of crying.

When faced with a new parenting experience I did like a lot of new mothers do and grabbed all the baby books I bought when I was pregnant. I also dedicated my Facebook status to asking my experienced mother friends for advice. I received the following basic tidbits. use a humidifier, prop her up at an angle when she is sleeping, put baby Vick's on the soles of her feet (since she was too young for Vick's at the time) then put socks on her, keep nursing, take her to the doctor if she develops a fever over X degrees, and wait it out.

Although I was stressed at having to see my baby girl suffer and be miserable, I also felt confident that I was doing all the right things. Then at night she would wake up crying with her nose all stuffy and my husband would insist that we should take her to the hospital. I assured him that we were doing everything she needed and since she had no fever we just had to wait it out. Of course, everything I had to say, was not heard until his mother told him the exact same thing. I really love how what I said was not right until his mother confirmed it, but that is off the topic.

Since this first cold we have started daycare and have experienced more colds and fevers. Every time she gets sick I consult my Facebook mothers, family, friends and books. Every time I get the usual advice and we try our best to be patient. My biggest frustrations with illness is my inability to make it all go away and how the doctor responds to my questions. We are fortunate enough to have our insurance through an agency that allows us to email our doctors; which has kept us from running to the hospital every time our baby sneezes.   

We have a nice doctor and our baby likes him, but he often provides me with canned responses. These responses always start with "this is something that is going around." He then tells us to do all the things that I have already been doing. Then he ends with you just need to wait these things out, call me if x, y or z develops. I am sure that pediatricians have their fair share of experience dealing with first time mothers and their worries and I understand that they are busy, but I really wish that he would make me feel a little special. I am not sure what our doctor could say that would make this worried mother feel better, but I do know that what I have been getting is not very comforting.

As I end this entry, I realize that I have not shared much knowledge and have more or less just vented about how a mother worries when her baby gets sick. All these worries are fresh at the moment as our whole household is currently suffering from a bug that is "going around right now." Maybe one day we will get through an illness without so much worry, but until then I invite all the mothers and fathers that read this to share with me what you do to help yourselves and your sick babies get through a cold or a fever.