Yesterday

Now and then you just have to post a warning: this one could get a little gross.

The night before last I was up again for most of the night with my 1 year old. He was coughing. And coughing and coughing and coughing. Finally, after a breathing treatment and some Triaminic (I'm not sure which one actually helped), he settled down and went to sleep at 5:30.

Of course, being the worrying mom that I am, I called the doctor that morning. Two weeks ago he had croup, last week he had two days of 103 fever, and now here were again, up coughing all night. While I was waiting for the nurse to call me back, I came to a life-altering conclusion. My child is probably sick all of the time because he never stops sucking his thumb. He plays with toys in the church nursery, he sucks his thumb. He falls down in the nasty, dirty garage, he sticks his thumb in his mouth. He digs something out of the trash, and in goes his thumb. Why haven't I thought of this before?

The nurse called me back and of course said with all that has gone on the past few weeks, the doctor will want to see him. We made the appointment for 3:40 p.m. Between the time I hung up the phone at 9:30 a.m. and left for the doctor, I think my kid coughed maybe two times. I arrived at 3:38 and almost fell over in shock when they called my name within seconds. My shock wore off quickly as I sat and sat and sat AND SAT in the little room waiting for the doctor to arrive. My son was bouncing off the walls, acting better than if we would have been at home playing outside with his favorite toys. We waited some more. At 5:05 p.m. (I am not exaggerating at all), the doctor finally came in. Oh wait, I take that back, he did come in once before and realized he had entered the wrong room and left again.

I love my doctor and many other people must love him too considering the vast number of children he sees each day. I trust him completely with my children's health, which is obviously what is keeping me there. Each time I started to get a little frustrated at his tardyness, I reminded myself that I am completely wasting his time (and mine) having this kid in his lineup for the afternoon. As is normal, he listened to him, the lungs sounded clear, and he sent me on my merry way with some drug samples (I love that!) and the name of a new cough medicine for my kid to try.

Oh, and that thumb thing. The doctor noticed my child's thumb-sucking talent while we were there. I mentioned the astronomical orthodontist bill that we would have someday. He told me that he has actually had a few dentists tell him that thumb sucking has improved the shape of the mouth and has prevented dental work. I'm sure the odds are not in my favor, but that will be my new thumb-sucking mantra. It will make me feel better.

Anyway, I raced out of there when we were done and sped home in time to pick up my mother and my other son to get the oldest kid to Wednesday night church. It was my brilliant idea to grab a bite to eat at Wendy's since I didn't think starving a one year old was a good idea. We had a huge list of things to do, so when the little guy wasn't finished in our adult eating time, we packed up the chicken nuggets and hit the road again.

That was a bad idea. My child thought it was great to be munching on the rest of supper -- until he had another coughing attack. Just so you know, chicken nuggets and coughing attacks do not complement each other.

First I thought he was going to choke to death, but soon I realized that, no, he would be okay...after he threw up every single thing he had eaten in the last 3 days -- twice. It was all over him and ALL over the car seat. I have to admit that at that moment I was secretly very thankful that we had chosen to drive mom's van complete with her very own car seat. I'm not sure she was so thrilled about the choice.

I will spare you the details of the clean-up because it was nasty. The only thing that made it stomachable (I'm sure that's a word) was that I was pretty sure this wasn't actually the flu. Getting home and getting him tucked into bed was more glorious last night than most.

And that cough medicine - I just want to kiss my doctor for that tip. My child slept all night without a single coughing fit. It may have been a fluke, but for now I will believe that I have found the miracle cure.