Not for the weak

A few times over the last little while I have read or heard that "parenting is not for the weak" or "parenting is not for wimps" etc.  It is becoming increasingly true to me!  Here is how our day went yesterday:
Avery sleeps a bit later than he usually does but I don't think it's that strange.  I get dressed in my black "Beauty and the Beast" t-shirt (from our school Musical) because we are supposed to protest today outside the MPP's office.  I pack Avery's sling because he will have to come with me.  Avery wakes up and eats his breakfast like normal.  He is sticking his fingers in his mouth so I figure he must be teething and I give him some homeopathic teething medicine.  We head off to work/daycare.  I get to work and immediately head in to a meeting about some things that need to be done ASAP for some of our high needs students.  I am about to leave the office when I see a secretary page "Laurie Wraight, pick up line 602".  Crap!  say aloud.  I know it has to be the daycare because any parent phoning in for me would know me as Laurie Willemsen.  So I pick up line 602.  It is the daycare - Avery is vomiting so I need to come pick him up.  :(   I tell the VP that I need to leave (the one who has just told me about all the important things that need to get done ASAP).  He looks almost as stressed as I feel. I head back to my office and pull something out of a binder for my Grade 10 English students to do with little guidance, since they will have a random supply teacher, and put it on the top of the piles of papers on my desk.  I head to the daycare.  Avery seems okay but they hand me the bag of pukey clothes and I remember that looks can be deceiving.  We get in the car to and head home.  As I am driving I remember that some mentioned to me as I was leaving work "well now you will have a nice quiet day at home with Avery".  So I cheer up a bit at the though of snuggling and reading books with Avery all day.  I love him.
We get home and snuggle and read books.  He seems sleepy and goes down for a nap at 10am.  I go upstairs and have to phone work to deal with some of the "important issues".  Then I write instructions for my supply teacher (luckily my English class is in the afternoon!) and email them in to school.  I eat some lunch.  I do more work for school.  Avery wakes up and wants to nurse.  I vaguely recall something about giving small sips of water every 5 minutes to see if they can keep it down (before nursing) but he is insistently pointing at the "nursing chair" so we sit down and nurse.  Then I call Telehealth.  I am mostly convinced that he has some sort of stomach bug but figure I should get it checked out (also for Noel's peace of mind - he gets really upset when Avery is sick).  Telehealth is busy and needs to call back so I change Avery's diaper and leave it off for awhile since he has some sort of red bumps that I also want to mention to Telehealth.  Telehealth phones back just as Avery (diaperless) is making his poopy face and I scoop him up and plop him on the change table. The nice Telehealth nurse, on speakerphone, is trying to assess if I am having and emergency but I tell her the only emergency we are having now involves poop.  I clean Avery up, get a diaper on him, and sit in the chair to talk to the nurse.  In the middle of the call Avery starts vomiting up all the milk he just drank - all over himself, my pants, socks, and the floor.  Shelby tries to be helpful by licking it up.  I am thoroughly grossed out by the whole situation and feel terrible for Avery.  The nurse eventually tells me that since Avery fell on his head at daycare twice in the last little while (not really a big deal though - he falls a lot now that he is just starting to walk) and is now vomiting, I should get him checked by a Dr. in the next 3-4 hours.  So I get both of us cleaned up and call the Dr.'s office, who, of course, does not have any free appointments in the next 3-4 hours.  The lovely receptionist asks if it can wait until Monday.  Ummmmm, no.  So we pack the diaper bag and head out to the Emergency Room.
It's 2pm when we get there. In Emergency Avery vomits twice.  They give me this handy little bag with a cardboard  thingy on top to catch the vomit.

 

I'm sure this is great, if your patient is co-operative

Avery is not interested in aiming for this and just pukes on the floor.  Luckily the person who is summoned to clean the mess up thinks he is really cute and forgives his aversion to the handy vomit-bag.  We go to Triage.  Back to the waiting spot. Then we go to Registration.

Avery's hospital bracelet.  They said he didn't have to wear it.    

Back to the waiting spot.  Finally we go in to the Emergency Department.  The nurse has given us a nice big room at the back, with it's own bathroom (she must of heard that Avery doesn't like the vomit-bag).  She comes in and checks him out and says she will probably be back with some sort of pill that will prevent him from vomiting.  Sounds good to me!  We wait some more.  Avery falls asleep in my arms and when he gets too heavy I put him down on the crinkly paper sheet and cover him with a blanket brought from home.  I look at him - hugging blankie covered in vomit, and fell so bad for him. Eventually, a Doogie Howser-esque girl comes in and announces she is the Resident.  I think to myself "how hard can it be to look at his pupils to rule out a concussion?" and let her wake Avery to exam him.  She listens to his heart and his chest, checks his ears and eyes, and feels his stomach.  She says he doesn't seem to have a concussion.  I mention the tablet to make him stop vomiting.  She doesn't really know what I'm talking about but says she will ask the Real Doctor since she is going to consult with him anyway.  We wait some more.  Resident Dr. comes back and says that  Real Doctor wants to do bloodwork.  Ok, I say.  Nice Nurse comes in with tablet to prevent vomiting (hallelujah) and tells me that they also need a urine sample.  We proceed tape a little bag thingy to Avery's groin.  He is surprisingly well-behaved during this process.

Pediatric Urine Collector.  Seems like it would be handy for Adults stuck in traffic too.  Just a thought. 

Next comes two nurses to take his blood. I've had my blood taken at the hospital and they usually only send one, so it's obvious to me that nurse number two is to help hold him still while they poke him.  :(   So they do hold him down, tie the strap around his arm, poke him with the needle, and take two vials of blood.  This makes him cry.  But what's worse is the look he gives me - the "why mum-ma, are you letting them do this to me?" look.  I feel terrible.  The nurses go away and we wait some more.  Eventually nice nurse comes back with a pediatlyte-apple juice concoction.  Avery is allowed to drink 10ml every 5 minutes.  By now he is feeling better and super-excited about the apple juice.  Every time he finishes his 10ml he points at the class to have more.  I tell him he has to wait 5 minutes and then he cries.  So, we walk the halls five minutes at a time keep him entertained and keep the apple juice out of his mind. Resident Dr. comes back.  The urine test is fine.  The bloodwork showed an elevated white blood cell count.  Now the Real Dr. wants us to go for a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia.  So we go down to X-ray.  Avery points at the sign on the wall so I read it to him: "We are down to one X-ray machine.  Please be patient". Sigh... I sing songs to Avery as he snuggles on my lap.  He is feeling better but it is bedtime.  Finally it is our turn.  We go in and the tech shows me what looks like a baby torture device and explains that they need to put him in there to immobilize him.  She says he is going to cry but that's actually a good things since his lungs will expand and they will get a good picture.

This is not Avery but some other baby , who has obviously been sedated for this photo since he is not  wailing. 

So we put him in there.  He cries.  I wear a lead vest and stand beside him, patting his head.  He is still clutching blankie.  As he wails and gives me the same "why are you letting them do this to me?" look I can hear the Tech saying "excellent picture"!  This does not make me feel better.  I get him out and take him back to our room in Emergency.  We sit on the bed, sing more songs, play with toy trucks, and empty the diaper bag for fun.  We get more juice/pediatlyte for Avery, and juice for Mommy, who is starving (we've been here for 6 hours at this point).  I am also covered in vomit.  The nurse stops by to say Resident is looking at the X-ray. Then she stops by to say that both Resident and Real Doctor are looking at the x-ray.  Finally both doctors come in to the room.  Avery immediately  does not like Real Doctor. He looks and sounds like Arnold Schwarzenegger.  He explains that the x-ray looks fine but there must be an infection somewhere for his white blood cell count to be high.  He looks in Avery's Ears and Eyes.  He listens to his chest.  Then, he says to Resident Dr: "So, his throat was fine when you checked it?".  Silence...    Through clenched teeth I say: "No one has looked in his throat the entire time we've been here".  Real Doctor gets out the tongue depressor and looks in Avery's throat.  For 5 seconds.  "Oh yeah, that's the problem" he says "it's red and swollen with white pustules.  He has Tonsillitis."  I am no longer calm:  "Wait a minute - if someone had looked in his throat 7 hours ago we could have avoided most of this?!".  The Real Doctor turns to the Resident and says something about Amoxicillan and they both leave.  I am to exhausted to work myself up to real anger so I pack up our stuff and put Avery's coat on.  I tell him we are finally going home.  The Resident comes back very quickly with his prescription.  We leave.
It's 9pm and the only drugstore open is Shoppers Drug mart.  We get the antibiotic, Advil, Tylenol, and Gravol, and head home.  I put Avery to bed - with pukey blankie because his other blankie is still in the washer from the first incident.  I let Shelby out to pee and feed her dinner.  I finally sit on the couch and it's 9:25pm.  I am sad that Avery had to go through all that.  I am exhausted.  I smell like puke.  I am disappointed that we didn't have a nice day snuggling at home, although we did do lots of snuggling at the hospital.  I start to write this blog because, for some reason, I want to write it all down.
Noel gets home from Sudbury at 9:55.  He has brought Avery two new blankies and a school bus toy.  I think it's sweet that he brought that stuff for him but wish that he had been around earlier when it was just me, in the hospital with our sick child.
I tell Noel this story and go to bed.
I'm not sure what the moral of the story is.  Obviously, it is "parenting is not for the weak".  Maybe it is also "Don't let the Resident take care of your child"?  or "Always have more than two blankies"?

Avery, the next morning.  Happy to have TWO new blankies.
Not interesting in letting go of either one in order to eat breakfast.  Oh well.