Tragic Sandwich

Tag: pediatrician

  • Baby’s First X-Ray

    Radiation Sign

    So last night Baguette went into our bedroom, and a little later we heard a slappy thump followed by tears. She was sitting on the floor at the foot of our bed, and sobbing. I picked her up and cradled her and sang to her, and she kept sobbing for at least 15 more minutes. We examined her carefully and couldn’t find any bumps, bruising, or swelling, but she was clearly unhappy and uncomfortable. I was able to coax her to sleep, but she was restless and needed soothing all night.

    Until 3:40 a.m., when she was wide awake. After some failed efforts at getting her to fall back asleep, we all got up to watch Sesame Street. She snuggled on the couch with Mr. Sandwich and smiled a bit, but was nowhere near her usual levels of enthusiasm.

    She’s home for a few days anyhow, because her day care is closed for some teacher in-service time, and the plan was for Mr. Sandwich to stay home with her (he has more vacation time). So I went to work and called to see how they were doing.

    At that point, Mr. Sandwich described it as “a sick, lazy day” with lots of Sesame Street. But later he took her out to play with her water table, and realized that Baguette hadn’t just been relaxing on the couch–she couldn’t stand up on her own.

    So he called me and the pediatrician’s office, where we met a couple of hours later. Now, Baguette does not love going to the doctor’s office. She’s had relatively few visits, so she associates the doctor with shots and that weird stomach-poking thing. She wails incessantly at the top of her lungs, both at the nurse and at the doctor. It’s really, really hard to calm her down afterward; there is no calming her down during. But the doctor managed to examine her, and decided that he ought to send her to radiology.

    And it turns out she feels exactly the same way about x-ray machines. While she was very–uncharacteristically–sedate in the waiting room, she screamed and screamed the entire time she was on the table to be x-rayed.

    The results were normal, so no fracture–good news. And while the screaming was heartbreaking, it completely wore her out, and she fell asleep in my arms before we even got the update from the radiologist. She stayed asleep the entire way home and for several hours afterward.

    So it’s likely to be a long night. Tomorrow, her pediatrician may provide another referral–this time to an orthopedist. And we suspect that we have a 2-year-old with a sprained ankle, particularly because now we can see some minor swelling. But she’s also smiling for the first time all day, and that’s an amazing relief.

    Photo by microwavedboy, via Flickr.

  • Tales of the Dragon Mother

    I read a lot of other blogs. And on one of them was posed the question: What surprised you about becoming a mother?

    Note: I’m sorry I’m not crediting you and linking to you, Other Blogger. I would, if I could remember which blog was yours!

    The first thing that surprised me about being a mother was how immediately I became protective of my tiny baby. I expected it to happen–but I was also so tired that it was hard for me to feel connected to anything for a while. I don’t think I had full-blown PPD, but I was probably close.

    So there I am, in the hospital, not feeling much except exhaustion and a lot of pain from trying to periodically turn over or, god forbid, sit up. And one morning I made my way to the bathroom, because brushing my teeth was clearly a necessity, regardless of how I felt.

    When I came out, an unfamiliar man was bent over the bassinette, prodding Baguette. And I was astonished at my first impulse, which was to bellow, “Who the f–k are you and what the f–k you’re doing to my child?”

    Another note: I have a deep voice. “Bellow” is pretty much what you think it would sound like. More than one person has told me that I can be scary.

    But before I could act on that impulse, some other, more rational part of my brain whispered, “Mr. Sandwich is here. He wouldn’t let this happen without good reason. So there must be a good reason.”

    That’s when I realized that I had been about to destroy my daughter’s pediatrician. I was fully prepared to incinerate and consume him, merely for touching her.

    More recently, I read George R.R. Martin’s series A Song of Ice and Fire. Fans of this series are passionate, and look to the various characters to find reflections of themselves. What I realize is that I don’t identify most strongly with Arya, or Catelyn, or Ned, or Daenarys.

    Dragon

    I identify with the dragons.

    Photo by eigirdas, via Flickr.

  • Parenting, Page by Page

    Baby & Parenting Books, Puzzles

    This is not my bookshelf.

    When I was pregnant with Baguette, I bought The Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy and The Panic-Free Pregnancy. I figured that pretty much covered it, considering that I have an obstetrician who I trust.

    After Baguette was born, we started using Dr. Spock (current edition and the one my mother would have used–thank you, eBay!), as well as Your Baby’s First Year Week by Week and Your Baby Month By Month. I read them for a few weeks, and then stopped–she seemed to be on target, we have a pediatrician who we trust, and (no matter how many caveats the books included) focusing on such a detailed level seemed likely to induce anxiety. And all of us have enough of that on our own regarding parenting, don’t we?

    We’ve inherited a couple of toddler-focused books, which I think I’ve looked at once–I’ve long switched to using these books to see if I can find specific answers (how much milk should Baguette be drinking each day?) rather than reading them completely.

    Then Motherlode started a book club. So far I’ve bought each of the three books: Torn, Origins, and No Biking in the House Without a Helmet.

    I haven’t read that last one, so I’ll focus on the first two. Torn is a collection of articles, mostly written by women who work outside the home (my mom was a stay-at-home-mom, and I know that path is work, too–believe me!). As I myself am not torn about working, most of the articles didn’t reflect my own experience or feelings–but I did find them interesting. In fact, that actually made the book more interesting to me, because it gave me the chance to learn about how others are affected by their life choices. (I already know how I’m affected by mine, after all.) Origins focuses on fetal development, and while I found it interesting, I also thought that the author was too focused on bringing every issue back to that topic. I have no doubt that what happens in the womb is incredibly influential on babies, in ways that can affect us throughout our lives, but that doesn’t mean everything can be traced back to that source.

    If you’re looking for something lighter, you might try Jay Mohr’s No Wonder My Parents Drank: Tales from a Stand-Up Dad. I don’t find Mohr’s stand-up particularly funny, but I could relate to an awful lot of this book–and I found him much more likeable as a person after reading it.

    So what are you reading?

    Photo by SierraTierra, via Flickr.