Sunday, September 21, 2008

Trauma in the ER

When the girls have to go in for wellness visits I make Bill come along too. He is there for one purpose--to hold the girls when they get their shots while I go running to the waiting room like the yellow belly coward that I am. I can't stand seeing the girls being put through pain. They are over it in a minute, I'm traumatized for days.
'
So today I took Bailey by myself for her first visit to the Urgent Care. She had been coughing and wheezing for a few days and having a hard time sleeping at night so I took her in to make sure she was ok.

The doctor prescribed a breathing treatment for her. They brought in a tiny little mask and hooked it up and said, "Just hold this mask over her face and let her breathe normally for about ten minutes while the medicine runs through it."

I dutifully held up the mask all of the sudden I was wishing she was getting shots instead. At least that would be one prick and it's over with. My laid back, always smiling, never cries baby hauled back and let forth some of the mightiest screaming and fisticuffs fighting I have ever seen from such a tiny tike. I went through ten minutes of sheer trauma while trying to console her and trying to keep her hands off the mask while I tried to hold the mask on. It was not a very well orchestrated effort as the nine month old was definitely getting the upper hand on me.

She's doing better now. Me, I'm not so sure.

17 comments:

Rebecca said...

Oh, poor girl (and Mommy). I hope she is feeling better!

Kaycee said...

Aw poor Bailey! That looks just pitiful. I hope you are both feeling better.

Mama Mia said...

Poor Bailey...hope she feels better....B has a cold too...UGG

Beth said...

I hope she's better soon and doesn't need the mask again any time soon. William had to get nebulizer treatments all the time at that age (he still gets a treatment every day!), but we just held the mask in front of his nose and mouth. He still won't actually wear the thing, although now he holds it himself. The nebulizer is why we started letting William watch videos!

M said...

They do suck!!

I curse my little girl's birth mom (don't fucking smoke, it's that easy) every time I have to give her one.

Lauren said...

Poor thing. I hope it helped though.

Mountain Mom said...

Aw, poor Bailey & Mommy!!! That is just awful. I think it always hurts us more than it hurts them when we have to take them to any Dr. Hope you're both feeling better!

Anonymous said...

Oh! Saddest picture ever! Poor little thing! I don't think I would handle it very well, either.

Joanna said...

Now, that is one ticked off little girl. I'm sorry that you both had to go through that. I hope she makes a quick recovery and that you never had to go through that again.

Deanna said...

At least you had enough wits about you to get a picture of her breathing treatment! We had to do that with Kelton several months ago at the doctor's office - same kind of crud. He didn't appreciate it, either. I can't remember what it was he had, but he needed the treatment to open up those bronchia tubes so the phlegm could be coughed out. She sent us home with a little breathing tube with baby mask and an inhaler. We were supposed to give him a treatment if his breathing became rattly again. It did...so we set it up. I puffed one hit into the tube and we put the mask up to his face...and he squirmed and squealed and fought. And then I wasn't sure if there anything still left in the tube, so I took a sniff to see if could smell it. YUP....it was still in there. And about 20 minutes later I was feeling mighty funny and relaxed. My husband was like, "DUH! You took a hit of albuterol!". Yeah, the doctor doesn't give us any inhalers anymore.

Hope little girl is feeling better today. And HUGS to you!

Jen said...

I hope that both of you are back to normal again soon. I know what you mean about shot, I just had to take the babies in for theirs today.

LauraC said...

Poor little girl! And poor mom! I had to take Nate to get an IV for dehydration when he was 10 months. The nurse said 'just hold his arm straight for the next hour and then I'll check on you"

Uh-huh. An hour holding a 10 month old's arm straight? I was exhausted for days afterwards!

Pennies In My Pocket said...

AWwwww poor baby! That just makes my heart sad. I hope she's feeling MUCH better!

~melody~

Michelle said...

Oh the poor thing! Little Miss has had to be nebulized on a few occasions (we have our own nebulizer now, lucky us). But she got a fishie faced mask that looks like *she* turned into a fish and she -- don't ask why -- loves wearing it. It also seemed like it was a lot softer than the standard mask. Can you switch if you have to do it again? Or just hold it near her face -- that worked well enough for us, too! Good luck, and I hope she's better soon!

Summer said...

Oh no!!! This picture would break any moms heart!!!

Janet said...

Oh my! Poor baby! I am so sorry y'all had to go through that. I hope she is doing much better now. I can't imagine trying to hold a mask on any child for 10 mins. It would break my heart!

Stacey said...

I know what you went through. Ethan had RSV when he was about 5 months old and we had to do one of those breathing treatments. I hope Bailey is doing better and you also.