Dr. Mom, at your disservice!

I have never liked going to the doctor. I had this thought at 2:00 this morning when for some extremely random reason, Hunter felt the need to wake up screaming. This little girl never wakes up...so why did I have this thought about doctors at this ungodly hour? I'll get to that in a moment. So, seriously, I don't even have a primary care doctor that I can honestly say I've ever seen. Yes, I'm pretty sure I have one listed with my Insurance Company, but that's just because they make you. It's not that I think what they do isn't valuable, it's just that I never really think my symptoms are "bad enough" to actually make the effort to go see one. I'm pretty much that person who just "waits it out." My husband has used the less gentle term "Stubborn" to describe this frame of mind.

Sleepy Hunter...this must've been at 1:59 a.m.... just kidding.

CASE IN POINT- In 2004, I got bit just below my right butt cheek by a brown recluse spider. Did I go to the doctor? Well yes, I did... about 13 days after the bite, and because I was more or less forced to due to an alarmingly hot and painful sensation in my leg and a bite mark that was literally causing my skin to deteriorate from the inside out..and was thus personally escorted to Urgent Care by my best friend from College, Jen. (And don't act all surprised like you've never seen my butt before. Then only difference is that now there's a tattoo there a few inches higher which you saw early on if you've been following this blog since the beginning.) :) Shield your eyes if you don't want to see blood. Or my butt.

So it would figure that I had AMAZING difficulty getting pregnant which required me to see a doctor practically once a week for 3 years!! (A little exaggeration there, but not much). Then to add to the irony, I got pregnant with TRIPLETS, and I was only 5'2" tall and weighed 98 pounds. (So, there are about 10 extra lbs. these days that don't seem to want to go away, but I don't care! I'm proud! I housed three human beings in there! At once!) But I digress...so my condition, for several reasons, required that I see a high risk doctor (and about a million medical students, residents, ultrasound techs, genetic counselors nurses and phlebotomists, etc.) again, about once a week or more for the whole pregnancy..Yaaaayyy!

So as much as I loved being pregnant and often (despite the three infants currently staring at me from their exersaucers) muse about having another baby someday...(a thought which is quickly snuffed by my husband who likes to vehemently point out that "we have triplets, for crying out loud" (as if I didn't know), I will say that the silver lining is that -not being pregnant means not having to go to the doctors!

And therein lies my new problem. There are many traits of mine that I would be so proud and lucky if any one of my children inherits...I'd love to see little tiny Hunter inherit my "freakishly strongness" and Colton my "glass half full" attitude, and Ethan my patience. What I hope they do not do is inherit my blase attitude about seeking medical attention when there is a need!

So back to Hunter, I'll start by just saying this. If you are a new parent of multiples, especially infants, (and you are like I am...) hear this- if one of your babies get sick, just take them ALL with you to the pediatrician because there is a good chance one of the others will be sick also. I just spent the past week rocking Ethan in the middle of the night when he'd wake up crying with a 102 degree fever. Did you hear that? The past WEEK. Deep down, I had a feeling something might be wrong on day 1, but in my glass half full attitude I chalked it up to perhaps "he was getting a tooth", or "he's just feeling cranky today"...we all have days like that, right? I mean, he wasn't THAT bad...

My little Superhero

Overall, I think it is a true virtue that I am the type of person who is extremely calm about pretty much all parenting issues...Seriously, it takes a lot to stress me out. Unlike my sister who admits that she will be a "helicopter mom" someday, constantly hovering...So I thought about her too, at 2:00 this morning. She would've called the pediatrician the first night her kid had a fever! I know she would've!

(Though I will say, my pediatrician did commend me for not being "that" mom who freaks out because her kid had a 102 degree fever and calls in the middle of the night for something that could just as easily and safely be dealt with in the morning. Which is not to say he wouldn't want me to call with a serious issue just because it's the middle of the night, of course).



But anyhoodle, after a week of diagnosing Ethan with "impending new tooth grumpiness", "cranky baby syndrome", and general fussiness" I did cave in and decide that the good mother in me should take him to the doctor. So I did. And he had another ear infection....OF COURSE HE DID!!

Quite frankly, I just think Ethan was trying to find a way to GIVE himself an ear infection because he loves my new temporal scanner thermometer and is a fiend for Cherry Flavored Amoxicillin and gets visibly upset when the syringe filled with pink goodness is empty, but whatever. I'm just his mom.


Turn now to Hunter. 2 a.m., unusually awake, coughing slightly? Hmm...my mom did say she was having a bit of a temper tantrum while I was with Ethan at the doctor...could she be sick too? Hmmm.....nah, she was probably just hungry, or having a bad dream, or wasn't tired anymore at 2:00 in the morning, or wanted to watch "Hoarders" on A&E at 4:00, or wanted to have one-on-one time with mommy, or wanted some water from her sippy cup, needed her diaper changed, wanted to pet Piper....blah, blah, blah, blah.....there I go again.



Dr. Goldberg, if you're reading this, don't be surprised if I show up with Hunter in the next few days. :) And this time, I'm just bringing them all! Aahh...live and learn, right?

So the moral of my story is this:

Make all the excuses in the world if you want to neglect your OWN health.

When it's a baby, better safe than sorry.

When it's three babies, better safer than sorrier!