A Full Time Job, a Baby and the Flu
Posted by Mary Rogul on Wed, Nov 11, 2009 @ 02:02 PM
My seven month old son woke a bit crankier than normal this past Friday but in my hectic pace as a full time mom I wrote it off as maybe just waking up a little early.
At 4pm that day his daycare called more urgently than I've heard in the past leaving a message on my cell phone to call as soon as I got their message. Those of you that are parents know that is a sound bite that you could live without. I had left my cell phone on my office desk (which I never do), but since I was just grabbing a drink I wouldn't miss anything. A soda and a 30 minute conversation later, I returned to a cell phone full of messages. One from my husband to call ASAP - something may be wrong with Nathan, and daycare saying that my son seemed listless and was having difficulty breathing.
As I raced my car down Cambridge Street toward Harvard Square I visualized being pulled over by a police officer for speeding which would have been fine with me since I could have gotten there faster since they would have most certainly escorted me the rest of the way, but no such luck. I called my husband and told him to meet me at daycare to pick up our older son Alex and I would be bringing Nathan to the emergency room. I had my route mapped out to Mt. Auburn hospital knowing exactly where the emergency entrance was and where I would leave my car as I rushed Nathan through the doors. Having my plan in place, I phoned my pediatrician to let her know what was happening. She was on call and got back to me immediately. Feeling very emotionally drained and frightened, I was close to tears when we spoke.
Going through the motions, I gave her the full story. She stopped me in my tracks and said - Mary, when you get there and see him you will know how he is. When you pick him up and he is in mom's arms, you will know what you need to do.
I thought - OK, is this a bunch of mumbo jumbo? - is this what all pedis say to crazy moms that call with kids that have runny noses? HELLO - my kid is "very sick" and you're telling me to pick him up and see what I think - whatever!
I pulled up to daycare ready to fully resuscitate my ailing 7 month old when I walked into the infant room and Nathan greeted me with an enormous smile - runny nosed and drool laden. I picked him up as if we had been separated for months, I almost heard music in the back ground as we were reunited. Nathan was fine, a bit under the weather, but just fine. My husband and I were in such a great mood that evening feeling very lucky that both of our kids are healthy and happy and that the call had been a false alarm.
Unfortunately, I now have the flu, but I'll take that any day over what we had been through that afternoon!