Polly put the kettle on

So Polly caught a bad cold this past week. She was up all night coughing one night, and the following day she turned purple a few times while coughing. I may possibly have been influenced by my own anxiety about--well about everything, but in this case specifically about my not having gotten a Tdap shot during pregnancy, and about having taken her too many places and having let too many people hold her. 

Anyway I called the pediatrician's office no fewer than 4 times over the course of about 5 days. Finally I brought her in on Monday morning. The doctor listened to her lungs and said they sounded good. I asked for a pertussis test--even though Polly was already clearly getting better--and she obliged.

Also, Polly started napping and sleeping in her car seat and swing. Not surprisingly, sleeping propped up did wonders for the cough.

Wednesday afternoon, the doctor called me with her test results--negative! (Phew. Pertussis in a newborn is no joke. If you need any pertussis facts, I'm your girl. Dr. Internet proved too tempting, yet again.) We talked for a minute and at the end of our conversation she said, "We do need to be very cautious at this age. Please don't hesitate to call if she gets worse again, and don't think that we're talking behind your back for calling so much." Haha...um...I wasn't, but thanks!

I really wasn't. What I was thinking was, "I'm paying for this service, and I only have one Polly. I'd rather call way too many times than not call and wish I had."

And I still think that.

When Theo was a baby I'm pretty sure I didn't call the nurse advice line or make a sick appointment for him even once, although I know he had colds that first year (though not his first month!). Ida had multiple ear infections her first year, but I never brought her in until she'd been miserable for at least a week. 

Who would have thought that I'd actually become more anxious about sickness the more kids I have? Thanks, hormones. Although I still let my kids eat food they've dropped on the ground. They (unlike Polly) already have immune systems, after all.