Is Rude a Color?

It is so hard when the babes are sick!! I think it's inversely proportionate; the younger they are the harder it is when they are sick. And not just because they can't tell you where it hurts or why they are crying. It's more "the look" they give you. All you moms and dads out there know exactly what I am talking about. "The look" you get from your little babe when he is so very sad, burning up with fever for days on end. The flushed with fever cheeks, dull eyes, crocodile tears leaking from the corners of the eye, and the pieces de resistance: the trembling pouty lower lip. "The look", the one he sends your way when he feels soooo bad. You can practically HEAR the unspoken question in "the look", "mommy, why don't you fix it and make me feel better?" The accusation that you are not helping him and he doesn't understand why, it just tears your heart out! I saw "the look" this past week, more than once unfortunately. Grayson has occasionally had the sniffles and has met the dreaded booger sucker before, and he had a tummy bug once (although that was just barely different from his usual reflux-y self), but until last week, he hasn't been truly sick. It started Tuesday evening when I was getting him ready for bed. He felt a bit warm, but he is after all, 9 months old and still toothless. I thought it might be from teething (and if any of you spout at me about how teething DOESN'T cause a low fever, be careful, this mother of 5 might kick you. Kids have 20 teeth each. That's 80 and running...) He was cranky and crabby, more then his usual bedtime bit. He went to bed and by morning I knew his 101-102 fever was more then a teething fever. All Wednesday and Thursday he ran a fever. On Friday morning it inched up a bit to the 102 range. I called the doctor only to be told "We're all filled today. No appointments available (there never is, I might add. Around here you have to plan on being sick and schedule your appointment a week out to actually be seen when you need it). If he's truly sick (as if I would call if he wasn't!) you can request urgent care authorization from the on call doctor. If his fever goes above 103, he should be in the ER." OK. Nothing I didn't already know, thanks so much for nothing! We watched him all day Friday and he got worse. He slept most of the day Friday and we did the alternating Tylenol and Motrin trying to control the fever. I think he had 4, maybe 5, baths that day too. Friday night about 8, I took his temp again. 104.5. Holy crap. Off we go to the ER. What does Grayson do first? He pukes. Orange. The look on the docs face was priceless! "Ummmm... is that... Popsicle?" Nope. Carrots. :) After looking him over and ruling out ear infections and listening to his lungs which were clear, they first were sure it was the flu. Negative. Then it was most certainly RSV. Nope. Then it was finally decided that it was viral, something that I already known. "It's viral. You are gonna have to wait it out... most likely here, in the hospital so we can keep him hydrated." What? He is hydrated! I have managed to do that just fine for the last 4 days thank you very much! The doctor started lecturing me about the importance of keeping sick children well hydrate, the signs of dehydration, the consequences of such, etc. etc, ad naseum. It wasn't that he was going over this information, after all he has no way of knowing me, my abilities, my background, but it was the way he spoke to me. Like I was a child. A slow child. As he is telling me about all the ways you can assess how well hydrated a baby is, he is showing me on Grayson. When he's about finished, he says, "well, he isn't dehydrated at all. I thought he was earlier when he threw up." Wow. THe doctor starts writing a prescription for Grayson for an anti emetic medication... for my 9 month old, not dehydrated baby, who has only thrown up once, who throws up as a result of a strong gag reflex due to his GERD (reflux) on a regular basis... Hmm. When he told me that the medication was in tablet form and "not to freak out", I had had enough. I interrupted, "Oh, it's sublinguial, half a tablet then? Got it. I have 5 kids. I have been here. Done this. Have the T-shirt." Just color me rude. Grayson took another 3 days to finally shake the fever and on Tuesday, a week after this all started, was doing pretty good. Today is Thursday and guess who's sick again?