Joys and sorrows of parenting
My husband and I are enjoying every bit of Riana. From her messy feedings, to her dirty diapers. From her crawling around the entire house to her trying to stand up on her own. We are enjoying her frowns just as much as we enjoy her smiles. It is difficult to imagine a life withour her. She brings immense happiness and satisfaction to our lives. We didn’t know what we were missing until we had her.
As first time parents, we couldn’t ask for a happier baby. She takes after Ashwin in terms of her calm behavior.
Lately though things have been especially difficult for both Ashwin and I. She got sick with a fever of 102 degrees that would not respond to Infant Tylenol. We spent the night of Halloween in the Pediatric Urgent Care in Worcester. What was more difficult was to see my 8 month old go through the torture of various exams. The staff was not equiped to handle a baby. After three failed attempts to insert the catheter, they asked that we get the blood drawn until a more experienced nurse started her shift. They poked her several times to draw her blood. Again, after three trials, I was done with them. They somehow managed to draw a little blood from her forefinger. It was not enough to run all the tests but just enough to run some basic blood counts. Needless to say, her WBC was very high. Riana threw up that morning but other than that, she had no symptoms of cold or flu. A WBC of 27,000 is unusually high for a viral infection so they suspected it was a bacterial infection and wanted to start the appropriate treatment. Riana received two antibiotic shots that day. The next day, we visited Fallon clinic in Leominster for her followup appointment. She got two more shots that day and felt great the following day.
She seemed well for the next week and then got a nasty cold. It was difficult to see her struggle to drink her formula while trying to breathe. We spent that week using the saline drops and nasal aspirator just trying to make her feel comfortable. She slept in her bouncer because the only way to keep her from getting congested was to keep her head elevated. Then finally, last Thursday, she developed a mild fever again along with really bad cough. She was wheezing and coughing a lot. After being seen by a new Pediatrician at the Acton Medical Center, she was diagnosed with Bronchitis. She just finished her five day antibiotic treatment and is feeling much better now. She still has residual cough.
Despite being so sick, Riana was never fussy and was playful and happy for the most part. Now that is what I call a really happy baby. It is such a bliss to have her in our lives.
As much as I realize that this is part of growing up, my heart still aches to see her sick. I feel miserable, helpless and frustrated. I remember getting very angry at the staff but there was nothing I could do. I am glad I finally found a good Pediatric facility.
It is fun to see her grow and reach her milestones. She is 20 lbs and 30 inches. She likes to immitate us and show off her newly acquired skills. She has mastered crawling and she finds it funny when we have to chase her. She likes to talk a lot although it still doesn’t make much sense. She has repeated the word “Hello” after us a few times. I can not wait for her to say Mama and Dada.
These are the joys and sorrows of parenthood… and I hope everyone gets to experience it at least once…
Cheers.