Parents' Intuition

Everyone that follows me or PK on Twitter knows that IK woke up crying tonight. At about 11pm he woke up crying. I gave him some Motrin because he's been teething. One tooth came in and we had a couple of days rest, then the other started coming in. He was very crabby the last couple of days and hasn't been eating or napping very well. He hasn't been sleeping very peacefully either.

At about 11:15, IK woke up again and was inconsolable. I felt helpless. I didn't know what to do for him. I had a horrible feeling that something was wrong. PK seemed to feel this way as well but we just didn't know what to do. After an hour of this, I called the doctor. I know it was after midnight but isn't that why they have a doctor on call? When I first decided to go to this pediatrician, they were very open with me about calling after hours. They wanted me to call if I felt there was something going on or I had questions. Now, I understand that the answering service is important. It keeps the doctors from getting a bunch of phone calls at home. It's a necessary evil if the doctors want to get sleep or have a life outside their jobs.

Having said that, I do not think that it is up to the answering service to decide whether or not I have given enough of a reason for a doctor to call me back. I called tonight after my baby had been crying and inconsolable for an HOUR. 60 minutes of screaming and what can only be considered writhing in pain. I tell this to the woman who answers the phone and she tells me that she needs more symptoms. The doctor isn't going to think crying is a good enough reason to call back. (According to her.) I had to take his temperature, rectally, while he's crying and freaked out already, so that she has enough symptoms to tell the doctor. Now, as far as I know, the answering service does not actually talk to the doctors. They page them to call my number. The doctor calls and needs me to tell them all of the information again. The doctor who called me back is not IK's regular doctor but one that I believe he has seen once or twice. She was very sweet to me and made me feel like I was right to call. No baby cries for an hour for no reason. I told her that IK NEVER does this and the only other time was when he had an ear infection. She said that she was thinking that it may be something along those lines and it would probably be a good idea to take him to the acute care center. She said that I should be prepared in case it was something that would need the hospital but she thought the acute care center would be able to check him out and just make sure.

Sure enough, IK has an ear infection in his right ear. I say Parents' Intuition because we know, mother or father, when there is something wrong with our children. If one of us calls the doctor, we have a good reason. We would never call just because our kid is crying and we don't know what to do with him. We call because our kid is crying and we've tried everything, including pain medication and he's still writhing in pain and crying hysterically.

I haven't decided yet if I will complain next time I go to the doctors' office. We'll see if my anger fades by the time the 2 weeks are up and IK has to be rechecked. What do you all think?

Sleep Troubles

I realize that most of my posts are about IK. I can't help it. He's the biggest and best thing in my life right now. Not that everything else isn't great but my life pretty much revolves around him. So, if you get sick of hearing about him, or need a break from baby talk, it won't hurt my feelings! I will understand.

I titled this Sleep Troubles because IK has been having some trouble going to sleep at night. He does pretty well at nap times. I can't really figure out if it is because he's teething or if he's over tired, over stimulated, off schedule and confused . . . I don't know. Anyway, he cries when I put him to bed. He's been doing this for about a week.

My first theory is that he's feeling insecure and unsure of his life. Seems like something a 1 year old shouldn't have to worry about. But, he's used to waking up at a certain time, going to AH's house, where he had a pretty regular schedule, getting picked up by his parents, played with and fed dinner, then put to bed. Now, he wakes up later, stays home, is dragged around on whatever errands I have to do, doesn't get to see AH, who he absolutely loves, sometimes is missing his afternoon nap (or both naps) and has no idea what the next day will bring.

Theory 2: It's light out when he goes to bed so he doesn't think it's time to sleep.

Theory 3: He's teething, which I hear gets worse at night. Then when he lies down to sleep, it puts a lot of pressure on his teeth and ears and makes it uncomfortable to sleep.

Theory 4: A combination of 1, 2, and 3. I think there is a little bit of insecurity. He doesn't understand why he doesn't get to see AH every day anymore. He's been totally screwed up with his sleep schedule since we went down to Chicago and he stayed up too late. We've been pretty busy so his naps are a little screwed up. He is teething. The top two front teeth are coming in. One has broken through a little bit but the other is still working on it.

On the plus side, he's very happy in the water during swim lessons. He's also happy when we play with him and take him outside. He's just like his dad. He likes to be outside. That's good. I liked to be outside when I was little too but now I can't stand the bugs.

Okay, I'll stop boring you with all the mom talk now. I should probably get some sleep anyway!

Miscellaneous Thoughts

I love my life! I keep having all these random thoughts. I figured I would write them down. Of course, as soon as I open up blogger my mind goes blank.

I just watched the Friend's Episode where Pheobe gets married. If only real life worked that way sometimes.

IK's taking a nap. He woke up at 4:30 this morning crying. Now I'm realizing that his teeth were probably killing him because it's raining. This morning I looked at his gums and I can see the little tooth getting ready to pop through. I hope the rest follow before the end of the summer. I can handle being tired when I don't have to do anything the rest of the day but during the school year it's very difficult.

This summer is so different from last summer. I'm happier. I know that sounds weird, I had just had IK last summer. I was pretty overwhelmed though and looking back, I think there was a little more than the baby blues going on. Part of that was also dreading going back to school which didn't turn out as bad as I thought it would be. I had very supportive parents and being a parent this year gave me a new perspective on relationships with the kids and their families. Now, I enjoy being home with IK. He's fun to be with, even when he's crabby. I like to take him places and PK is home more this summer. At least, he's supposed to be! No internship this year but still Football Camp.

I've even been talking and planning out when to have another baby! Not for awhile but at least I'm thinking positively about it!

I really enjoy facebook and twitter. I feel more connected to all my friends which is really important to me. We all have such busy lives but we can all take a few seconds and let everyone know what's going on. I think that's so cool and I'm glad that PK got me started on it.

It's almost time for me to start thinking about a Master's Degree. I thought I wanted to do reading but now I'm not sure. They just opened up an Educational Technology masters at the University Center. It interests me but I'm not sure if I want to put that much time and money into something that I don't really want to do as a career. I just want to teach. Reading would help me with that. Ed. tech would too but not on as big of a scale (I think). Well, PK won't finish for at least another year, so I have time to look into it and decide.

Right now, it's summer (even though it's raining) and I need to get ready for when PK gets home. We're going grocery shopping. The fun never ends!