Monday, October 10, 2011
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Saturday, October 1, 2011
A Mother's Instincts
Mireya has been very ill since Thursday night. She has had an ongoing fever that has been difficult to bring down. At one point, her temperature even spiked to 105 degrees, which had me terrified. She saw her pediatrician yesterday and he said that because she had no other signs or symptoms, it was probably a virus, but there was a chance that it could be a urinary tract infection. He said that to test for the UTI, we would have to put a catheter into her bladder to retrieve a urine sample. Deja-vou.
Ok, wait, flashback to several weeks ago. One afternoon as I was changing Mireya’s diaper, I noticed that it had an unusually strong odor. I had Jason smell it and he said he thought it just smelled like urine, but my mommy instincts were on alert. When I realized that every diaper smelled that way over the next day or two, I got concerned. I made an appointment with her pediatrician and I took in a sample diaper. I was told that it didn’t smell unusual to them and besides, the only way to get a urine sample was to use a catheter.
Absolutely not was my automatic response. She is tiny and I still remember how traumatizing it was when I was in second grade and I had to have a catheter. I negotiated until they let me take a cup home to see if I could get her to pee in it. That failed and everyone around me acted as if I had lost my mind: the baby was fine.
I decided to just take a wait-and-see approach, but I did continue to voice my concerns. Nobody else could smell what I was smelling and they didn’t have my motherly instincts that were going haywire. I even noticed within a week that I could smell it even if she wasn’t really wet. She had an 18-month wellness visit and I asked another pediatrician about it then too and I got the same response– She’s fine, quit worrying, besides she would have to have a catheter and be traumatized for life.
Ok, back to the present. When Mireya’s fever hit 105 degrees, I had Jason call the pediatrician while I got her immediately into a lukewarm bath to bring it down. Guess what? The pediatrician wasn’t concerned at all. EXCUSE ME!? She is running a very high fever and she is not acting like herself at all! How can you not be concerned!?!?
Today I had had enough of her being miserable and we took her into the Instacare. They said that they would have no problem retrieving a urine sample, all they had to do was glue this little baggie onto her. When she peed, it would catch it and we were to bring it back in and they would test it. Simple as that. SERIOUSLY!? Why couldn’t the other doctor have done that WEEKS ago? Well, we did it and it was positive. Mireya has a UTI. I had known it all along, but no one would listen.
I’m clearly frustrated at the doctors, but I’m also frustrated with myself. It’s my job to keep my baby safe and healthy and I knew something was wrong. I should have continued to push the doctors, even though they thought I was crazy. Mireya may only be 19 months old, but every single time my motherly instincts have gone off, I’ve been right. I need to learn to trust myself, even when the rest of the world disagrees. It’s hard sometimes, because you don’t want to come across as the over-bearing, over-protective mom who is paranoid about everything. Whenever you disagree with a doctor, they seem to lump you into that category. I just don’t get it.
Ok, wait, flashback to several weeks ago. One afternoon as I was changing Mireya’s diaper, I noticed that it had an unusually strong odor. I had Jason smell it and he said he thought it just smelled like urine, but my mommy instincts were on alert. When I realized that every diaper smelled that way over the next day or two, I got concerned. I made an appointment with her pediatrician and I took in a sample diaper. I was told that it didn’t smell unusual to them and besides, the only way to get a urine sample was to use a catheter.
Absolutely not was my automatic response. She is tiny and I still remember how traumatizing it was when I was in second grade and I had to have a catheter. I negotiated until they let me take a cup home to see if I could get her to pee in it. That failed and everyone around me acted as if I had lost my mind: the baby was fine.
I decided to just take a wait-and-see approach, but I did continue to voice my concerns. Nobody else could smell what I was smelling and they didn’t have my motherly instincts that were going haywire. I even noticed within a week that I could smell it even if she wasn’t really wet. She had an 18-month wellness visit and I asked another pediatrician about it then too and I got the same response– She’s fine, quit worrying, besides she would have to have a catheter and be traumatized for life.
Ok, back to the present. When Mireya’s fever hit 105 degrees, I had Jason call the pediatrician while I got her immediately into a lukewarm bath to bring it down. Guess what? The pediatrician wasn’t concerned at all. EXCUSE ME!? She is running a very high fever and she is not acting like herself at all! How can you not be concerned!?!?
Today I had had enough of her being miserable and we took her into the Instacare. They said that they would have no problem retrieving a urine sample, all they had to do was glue this little baggie onto her. When she peed, it would catch it and we were to bring it back in and they would test it. Simple as that. SERIOUSLY!? Why couldn’t the other doctor have done that WEEKS ago? Well, we did it and it was positive. Mireya has a UTI. I had known it all along, but no one would listen.
I’m clearly frustrated at the doctors, but I’m also frustrated with myself. It’s my job to keep my baby safe and healthy and I knew something was wrong. I should have continued to push the doctors, even though they thought I was crazy. Mireya may only be 19 months old, but every single time my motherly instincts have gone off, I’ve been right. I need to learn to trust myself, even when the rest of the world disagrees. It’s hard sometimes, because you don’t want to come across as the over-bearing, over-protective mom who is paranoid about everything. Whenever you disagree with a doctor, they seem to lump you into that category. I just don’t get it.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Mireya Playing with Daddy Video
Mireya always wants to learn how to do new things. I decided to teach her how to do a somersault yesterday morning. She wanted to show her Daddy, but she can't quite do it as you'll see in the video. Super cute though!!
Monday, September 19, 2011
Diaper Change, Please
Guess what Mireya just did. She brought Lane a diaper and said "please." She had a poopy diaper and needed to be changed, and she knew it, and wanted it! It was so cute!
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Mireya Should Not Use Pens
Mireya LOVES to color. I once posted about how she colors on EVERYTHING. Anyway, she has figured out that pens and pencils exist in the world of making art, not just washable, non-toxic Crayola crayons. UGH. Now she can color on herself too. How exciting! At least she thinks so. I'm not personally sold on the idea.
Where did she get a pen? I gave it to her. Why? She said, "PEESE!" and she signed please too. How could I refuse that cuteness? After all, she does really well with them when she is under constant adult supervision, so I figured, why not? How did she manage to color on her arm while under adult (my) supervision? Hey! Mommies have to go potty too! I thought maybe, just once, I could go into the bathroom without a toddler and a cat trying to help me. (They ALWAYS follow me in.) Apparently I am not going to ever get privacy in the bathroom again or I have to be ok with stuff like this happening in the two minutes I'm gone. Peachy.
***Update! Ok, you aren't going to believe me, but two seconds after I posted this, I went to leave the office and I caught Mireya writing on her legs! I didn't give her the pen this time. This one I can blame on Jason...
Where did she get a pen? I gave it to her. Why? She said, "PEESE!" and she signed please too. How could I refuse that cuteness? After all, she does really well with them when she is under constant adult supervision, so I figured, why not? How did she manage to color on her arm while under adult (my) supervision? Hey! Mommies have to go potty too! I thought maybe, just once, I could go into the bathroom without a toddler and a cat trying to help me. (They ALWAYS follow me in.) Apparently I am not going to ever get privacy in the bathroom again or I have to be ok with stuff like this happening in the two minutes I'm gone. Peachy.
***Update! Ok, you aren't going to believe me, but two seconds after I posted this, I went to leave the office and I caught Mireya writing on her legs! I didn't give her the pen this time. This one I can blame on Jason...
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
18 Month Wellness
Mireya had her 18 month wellness visit yesterday. She was pretty good overall, but she still cried a lot. She is way ahead on her cognitive development, no surprise there. The doctor said she is exceptionally tall and skinny... we knew that too. He had us fill out an autism questionnaire and she aced it. Here are her stats:
She got more immunizations and she was so upset. She tried to grab the needle and pull it out of her thigh. :( Poor baby. She had two bright orange bandaids after the shots, and all day she pointed at them and said, "Owie!" Here's a video of her doing just that:
[mobileme url="http://gallery.me.com/mireya.ruesch#100365/Mireya%27s%20Owies&bgcolor=black"]
- Weight: 18 pounds 13 ounces, 1 percentile
- Height: 32 1/2 inches, 69th percentile
- Head Circumference: 17 3/4 inches, 14th percentile
She got more immunizations and she was so upset. She tried to grab the needle and pull it out of her thigh. :( Poor baby. She had two bright orange bandaids after the shots, and all day she pointed at them and said, "Owie!" Here's a video of her doing just that:
[mobileme url="http://gallery.me.com/mireya.ruesch#100365/Mireya%27s%20Owies&bgcolor=black"]
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