Taking baby to the doctor (for spits and giggles)
Categories: Babies, Health & safety
For several days my 3-month-old had been channeling his 3-week-old self, in that he re-developed a startling habit of randomly hosing down his entire body and any nearby furniture/parents/passing cats with the contents of his stomach. I had informed him that I thought we were past all that infantile behavior and that he was a GREAT BIG BOY now, RIGHT, I mean have we not moved up to the 3-6 month sized feetie pajamas, HMMM? -- but instead of listening he just jammed his fingers in his mouth, because hey, if he's not barfing for no apparent reason, that means he's got time to dramatically gag himself, right? Let's see just what that washing machine's capable of.
He had no other symptoms of illness: he'd been eating just fine, sleeping as normal, and whenever he's not trying to set the house on fire with his brain he's generally doing a whole lot of gummy-mouthed smiling, but I finally dragged him (literally: my god, that carseat weighs a TON) into the pediatrician's office on Monday just to make sure everything was okay.
Once we were situated in the exam room, I put him on the table where he instantly acted as though I had dipped him in Zoloft, or maybe tequila. The squirming! The joyous squealing! The meaty, hysterical giggles! It was like he'd been waiting his whole newbornhood for the luxurious experience of lying face-up on a paper-covered table. I have never seen him so filled with joie de vivre, and I wondered where I might be able to purchase a Baby's First Medical Equipment™ Paper Exam Table of my very own.
The nurse took one look at my hilarity-filled baby -- his rosy cheeks glowing, his pudgy thighs kicking -- and then peered over her glasses back at me. "So he's doing some spitting up, then?" she asked, and I could actually see her picturing the home situation that propelled me (clearly a bug-eyed, medical-website-surfing mom) to the doctor's office: the teaspoon of milk he produced after a hefty post-meal burp, the panicked call I made to 911 as a result.Anyway, after I finally managed to convince the nurse and the pediatrician that I know what in hell a spitup looks like and that it doesn't usually require cleaning the child with a Wet-Vac afterwards, no one seemed to think there's much of anything wrong with Dylan -- maybe just a mild stomach bug combined with a sensitive gag reflex. "Come back if things don't improve in a few days," the doctor said, all but patting me on the back as I lurched back out the door with the carseat.
Of course Sir Barfs-a-Lot has stopped with the mighty milk-spews, much like how your computer magically starts working again as soon as you call tech support. Not that I'm not extremely grateful for this less-messy state of affairs (as long as I keep his fingers out of his mouth, that is -- can someone remind me when the Accidental Bulimia Stage ends?) but jeez, talk about feeling like a moron. It's like I took my baby in for farting, or something. "Oh, doctor -- it's like there's a trumpet up his rear end . . . is there?"
Truthfully, though, I'm not too worried about looking like a chump in front of the pediatrician, because who doesn't believe in the Better Safe Than Sorry rule? I'm sure they've heard it all, too. Have you ever taken your kid in for something that turned out to be, you know, nothing much?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
sharon 5-21-2008 @ 12:29PM
At least you waited until the pediatrician was open! One night when my son was about 11 months old he woke up screaming bloody murder. After about 1/2 hour of this my husband was certain something was horribly medically wrong with him. So I whisked him off to the ER where we were checked in and triaged. The nurse said it didn't look life threatening so we were instructed to wait. In the mean time he had worked himself up into such a fit that he threw up on me and about 20 minutes later let out the loudest old man fart I have ever heard! Crying immediately stopped and he fell asleep (it was about 1 am at this point) Yep... we now call it the $400 fart! I should have known better this being baby #2 but as you say better safe than sorry.
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Sara Moon 5-25-2008 @ 3:58PM
You're comment made me laugh so hard I have tears streaming down my face!!!!!!! Hilarious. I could picture the entire scene at the emergency room. Thank you for making my day!
momto4 5-21-2008 @ 12:38PM
I took my baby in for a rash all over her head (and I do mean all over - from partway down her back all the way around to the front) and was told that it was just cradle cap. (I know what cradle cap looks like and this wasn't it, i mean, her hair was coming out for God's sake!) AND, this one's a doozy, I took her in for a rash that suddenly appeared all over her torso, and was told that it was just roseola. I know, not necessarily a bad thing, but still. I very firmly believe in better safe than sorry. I'd rather be told it was nothing, than wait and come to find out that its much more serious.
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jenn 5-21-2008 @ 12:48PM
Can't think of any time that I've ever taken a child to the doc only to be told "No, it's nothing"... I mean, it's always, you know, a cold or a virus or something sucky that they really can't do anything about. And I certainly would rather be safe than sorry.
But what does it say about me as a mother, that I was actually a little relieved a few months ago... I took one of my sons in for being unbearably crabby and feverish and sick-acting, and the doctor was all "Yup, looks like he's got a double ear infection AND the flu." I said "Well, that's great news! This was a $25 copay that was well-spent!"
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Monique 5-21-2008 @ 1:18PM
When DD#1 was 5 years old, I took her in for an odd rash. She gets rashes easily, but this one had various sized round spots 1/2" to 1", and then various scatterings of little dots. My husband was sure it was ringworm (I knew it wasn't) and our family doctor did rule that out. He didn't know what it was either, but since she's always getting a rash for something, he just put her on the standard treatment (hydrocortisone cream and benedryl if it really itches) and instructions to come back if it worsened or didn't get better. I went home and changed the sheets on her bed just in case, and out falls a bunch of coins!! The round spots were from her sleeping on them! She had been "counting her money" and fell asleep.
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Michelle 5-21-2008 @ 1:20PM
If it's any consolation, a friend of mine's baby was "bulimic". He would gag himself with his hand. Especially during meals.
As I heard, there really wasn't anything they could do about it but try to prevent him from doing it and hope he would grow out of it.
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JJ 5-21-2008 @ 2:01PM
We hear all the time “It’s just a virus, it has to run it’s course” (thanks to the germs from daycare). This last time we waited almost a full 4 days of a mild to medium fever to bring him to his Dr. and paid the co-pay to hear “it’s just a virus…”. And of course you get home and the fever breaks. We’re on a 2nd doctor since his birth (he's 3)now, and he tells us “it’s just a virus...” too, but I feel better with him doing it, I trust him more. But again better safe then sorry.
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Michele 5-21-2008 @ 2:07PM
This post was hysterical. I read the title, thought...boring (sorry, Linda) but decided to read anyway. You could make just about any topic enjoyable to read. Thanks for writing!
~Michele
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april 5-21-2008 @ 2:09PM
First off, that is hilarious.
I loathe the way some doctors and nurses by default treat parents like they are crazed vicarious hypochondriacs. I understand some parents are, and probably the majority of us have overreacted a time or two, but at least give us the benefit of the doubt that we have a legitimate concern. If it does turn out to be nothing, we will be more comforted by the diagnosis if we feel like we here taken seriously instead of just humored.
Two experiences that really get my goat.
#1) My daughter had been throwing up almost non stop for a couple days (17 times the first day!) Anyway, I was worried about dehydration and so I took her in. The doctor gave me the same, "are you sure it isn't just spit up, you know sometimes they can spit up a lot, routine" and all but rolled his eyes when he told me she looked fine. (of course right before I took her in she happened to have kept down her last feeding, the only time it happened that day.)
Anyway, the next day she was worse, so I took her to the ER and surprise! she was dehydrated and needed IV fluids. They also gave her an anti-nausea shot, that my doctor could have given her the day before (if he had trusted me that she wasn't fine) which would have helped her keep something down and we probably could have avoided the whole ER experience. ugh!
Experience #2)
My daughter had a cold and a mild (101-102) fever. She started to develop a hacking cough. I was pretty sure it was fine, but DH was worried so I called the on call nurse at the doctors office. The nurse was worried it was croup and wanted me to bring her in right away. I really didn't think it was, but she insisted, and to be "better safe than sorry," I took her in.
One copay, one trip to the doctor with a fussy sick toddler, and one long hour in the waiting room/exam room later it turned out to be nothing, except of course the cold. And to add insult to injury, the doctor treated me like I had over reacted, when I didn't even want to bring her in in the first place.
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Liz 5-21-2008 @ 4:32PM
One night when Lilia was somewhere in the 3-6 month range she had something horribly wrong with her. I knew this because she SCREAMED and SCREAMED and wouldn't nurse (unheard of) and was pulling at her ear. I remember how excruciating ear infections are so I took her to the urgent care. As soon as we walked in she started smiling and squealing. The nurse said "THIS baby is sick?!" Lilia, of course, did not have an ear infection or anything else.
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Madison 5-21-2008 @ 7:36PM
My childrens doctor has NEVER made me feel like I am over reacting- even though I sometimes do. If she did I would find another doctor.
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honeybecke 5-22-2008 @ 11:50AM
"Oh, doctor -- it's like there's a trumpet up his rear end . . . is there?"
HA!!! So funny.
I've taken my kids to the ped on several different occasions to be "better safe than sorry" and I've always felt glad I did and thankfully I haven't felt silly doing it. It's one way to get the deductible paid fast!
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Kris H. 5-22-2008 @ 11:57AM
When Daughter was 3 months old, she started throwing up. This went on all day...couldn't even keep Pedialyte down. That night, things got worse and we got scared, so we took her to the ER. We waited for a bit (not too long because it was the hospital where my mother worked and we got preferential treatment) and then got to see a doctor. He said she seemed fine and she hadn't thrown up the entire time we were waiting, so he had the nurse give her some Pedialyte. We waited 30 minutes and she didn't throw up, so we were sent home with a pat pat and a there there. We drove the 5 minutes home and took her straight up to her bed. The second her back hit the bassinet, she threw up all over herself!!!
We cleaned her up and rocked her to sleep and decided to wait it out rather than go back and have them look at us like we had lost it...again. It was a long night for us, but by mid-afternoon the next day it was through her system and she was back to her normal happy self.
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Sara 5-23-2008 @ 3:53PM
About a month and a half ago Dylan got this weird dry skin patch on his right eyelid. I'd noticed it when I'd picked him up at my parents house, I gently washed it that night but was afraid to put anything on it because it was so close to his eye, like lotion or anything. So I watched it for a few days and while it got no worse, it got no better either. Finally I made him a doctors appointment and in we went.
Their pediatrician whom I love, examined this "spot" thorougly and then to my horror rubbed it off with some warm water and a paper towel.
It was dried goop off of glazed donuts.
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Gnometree 5-24-2008 @ 4:24AM
Linda, I'm here to tell you that as they get older it will be same shit, different day. My daughter (9years old) fell over a few weeks ago and hurt her wrist. It was strapped and iced and all appropriate first aid administered. After a week it was still hurting - not in a "can't play Wii" kind of way, just always aching a bit. So I took her to a physiotherapist who said that she wasn't convinced it wasn't broken and that we should get medical clearance first. So we went to the doctor who said that he wasn't convinced that it wasn't broken and that we should get xrays taken. I knew it wasn't broken. She can play the nintendo but she can't do her flute practice?? Get real. Anyway, I was the good mummy and went for the xrays (for me this is a 200mile round trip) . In total: $50 co pay for the xrays, $20 for the physio and $20 for the doctor (not to mention a day off work and 200 miles worth of gas) and the wrist is JUST SPRAINED. For all that effort she could have at least needed a cast!!
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Lisa 5-24-2008 @ 12:26PM
I have called the ambulance twice- yes, twice!- because my youngest son enjoys scaring the bejesus out of me.
"What to Expect" needs to add a chapter on young children's ability to scream until the literally faint. Especially when really upset by a bump on the head. Nothing like a toddler bumping his head, lurching into a horrible silent cry, then going limp in your arms.
Except being treated like an idiot by the guys on the ambulance when they show up to be greeted by a completely recovered and wiggly 1-year-old. And then by the pediatrician who said it's "rather common". Why the hell didn't anyone tell me about it then?!
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Shawna 5-26-2008 @ 7:45AM
My mother almost NEVER took us to the doctor; not when we got the flu, not when I got whooping cough, not when I broke my little toe (though that last was when I was a teenager and could have taken my own damn self in if I hadn't figured "eh, there's nothing they can do for a broken toe anyway".) This has had the result of making me at least call my doctor more often than I might have otherwise, 'cause I'd hate to think I'd not wanted to bother her only to have it really be something serious. To her credit, the doctor has never made me feel like I shouldn't have gone in and, while she hasn't always been able to figure out the cause of whatever my daughter's symptoms have been, she's always acknowledged that there was something wrong and made recommendations as to what to do (even if it was just "wait and see"). She is awesome.
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