Again the universe said: Psych!
We put Lil’ Drummer (who had been in completely good health—no cold symptoms or what not) down for his morning nap, and anticipated that when he woke up, we’d hit the road to run a long list of errands. He woke up early from his nap, but didn’t seem too out of sorts initially. Rockstar took him downstairs so I could finish getting ready, but I soon heard him crying. A lot.
**back to his chill self**
I walked downstairs to see what was going on. Initially, I was annoyed, thinking, ‘why aren’t you helping this poor kid who is obviously in distress?’ Except when I got down there, I saw that Rockstar was holding Lil’ Drummer, trying to give him a pacifier, but nothing doing.
Huh. Drummer is a pretty chill little guy. He gets fussy at all the normal baby things (Hungry! Tired! Dirty diaper!), but otherwise, can generally be talked out of crying spells. So it struck me as odd right away. I reached for him, assuming the crying would cease as soon as he was wrapped in mama’s arms. But, you know, it didn’t.
I should note: There is a difference between normal baby crying and panicked, red in the face, high-pitched screaming. This was the latter.
And nothing made it go away. We tried getting him in his carseat and on the road, because he generally responds well to being on the go. Nope.
**on the go**
We tried walking him outside in the wind. It helped only a little.
We tried feeding him—he wouldn’t have any of it. He wouldn’t nurse, he wouldn’t eat, he wouldn’t take his paci.
We tried changing him, rocking him, distracting him. We tried Motrin. We tried Tylenol. N.O.T.H.I.N.G. worked. After my own ordeal the day before, my nerves were already shot. So Rockstar and I were on edge. There was no way on God’s green earth that I was going back to the ER unless I really had to, but I was starting to get nervous.
Being a mom and doctor can be a double edged sword when it comes to taking care of your own kids. Even though I think on the whole it is helpful, there are times when your mind takes you to the worst case scenario, because you’ve seen it. So my mind was thinking of intussuception (an uncommon, but serious bowel problem that inconsolable crying can be a sign of), since he’d demonstrated no other sick symptoms that would indicate an ear infection, hand/foot/mouth, or some other virus. And at a certain point, you want a third party to come in and look at the situation, since your intense motherly concern can make it hard to be objective.
So, we scheduled a visit with the pediatrician, who mercifully still had Saturday afternoon appointments available.
**this week finally brought a chance to go exploring**
We loaded both kids in the car (because neither of us wanted to go it alone) and made our way there.
Within 10 minutes of walking the hallways outside the pediatrician’s office, Drummer’s hours of crying had softened into whimpers, and then into silence. Oh, blessed silence.
By the time we saw the doctor, he had decided he was willing to eat, and looked the part of a normal, healthy baby. Do you ever feel going to the doctor is like taking your car to the mechanic? The car never makes that weird sound you ‘swear it’s been making’ when the professional is listening.
I told the doc his symptoms, and he agreed that intussuception had to be considered, but set about examining him for other problems.
His exam was entirely normal. He advised me to head to the ER if he had 2 or more uncontrolled crying episodes.
We have both been fine ever since.
Can I just say: Dude, we are so over the mystery syndromes round these parts.
**enjoying open spaces**
p.s. A few people have asked if I think mine and drummer’s episodes were related. The timing was awfully strange, but there were no symptoms to indicate either of us had anything infectious. I’m still thinking mine might have been related to some type of small abdominal wall hernia that went back into place before it was imaged, and I don’t know what was going on with my little man.
I guess this drives home the point that medicine is not an exact science. There will be questions that we will never be able to answer, despite our best efforts. Frustrating and Humbling? You better believe it. But I'm learning that life is more about the process than the definitive solutions and answers we crave.
