Good christ, I call the dr on a weekend for a goddamn uti.

Anyway, I'm sure, SURE, that Ty knows some dr he can ask.

Not a concern to f. for 2 reasons......
 

Okay, hospital horror story.......

Prelude

- we move from DC to Michigan, daughter born, wife breast feeds. At 4 months our ped (not really big breastfeeding proponent) says it is time to put her on solids. She was middle of the road weight etc.

Well, she takes to solids bigtime and is drinking less and less milk. but guess what? she keeps getting skinier and skinier. We're working with Ped and trying to figure it out.

The ER Story

-back to DC for a wedding, she's 7 or 8 months old- and has a hacking cough. This was the first time all our friends would see baby, and we were really looking forward to a festive weekend reunion.

We were staying in the hotel where the wedding was at, and so we drink abit much. Back to the room at maybe 11 or 12 because of baby. An hour or so later the coughing is much worse- after hand wringing, and fighting about whether to go, we get in a cab and go to the ER.

we wait the usual too long, but now we're half drunk and the festive reunion is clearly going away. then we see the ER doc who is with a young guy I assume is on rotation or whatever.

Doc- "she has a cold or virus. give her fluids and it'll go away. but let me ask you, why are you starving your baby?"

we explain we weren't but clearly he wasn't buying it and we had guilt hanging heavy over us.

Then, his young friend- "Maybe she has cystic fibrosis- that would explain the weight loss."

Hank was not equipped to web check CF and thus was fucked up the rest of the time until Monday when we coould check with her Ped and find out NNTW.

Epilouge

-We did fire our Ped and got to a pro-BF doc. As LLL will tell you milk fat = baby fat for the first year. She actually had a chubby phase so it all worked out. But point is, midnight shift at the ER, you don't know what you'll get.

That episode was as low a time as a parent as I ever had. I suppose that is fortunate.

Not a concern to f. for 2 reasons......
 

Jesus. Had he not heard of the AAP?

-T(breastfeeding nazi)L

We learned the hard way that calling your pediatrician and going into the ER anytime you have a concern is the better thing to do. Note to all: it is difficult to tell the difference between flu symptoms and appendicitis, even for a pediatrician. And some of those bonks can be pretty bad -- Atticus, if you're worried about hospitals reporting, worry about when they find a few fractures not properly cared for when they're looking for something else.

While I don't think every bonk on the head warrants an ER visit, the "watch closely" advice contemplated that if the kid is still miserable and in pain (as in, headache but doesn't know the word for it) hours and hours later, seeing an MD is in order.

I'm proud to say that neither the cops nor the ER nurses recognize us on sight --- yet.

As for appendicitis, I have a friend who, when in sixth grade, told his parents his belly hurt and he couldn't go to school. His parents thought he was malingering, so they sent him to school anyway. Boom --- ruptured appendix. He was in the hospital for three weeks and nearly died. We in his school all said Hail Marys for his recovery or, if necessary, his immortal soul, every morning for all three weeks. But when he got home, his parents gave him everything he asked for for like the next four years. He says it was worth it.

Hospital
 

UTI's warrant a call to the doc at any time on any day they are so painful. I was once out of state, looked up a urologist in the phone book, called him and got his covering doc at 10 pm, explained I wasn't even a patient but begged for (and got) meds to be phoned into a pharm where I didn't even have an account (these were the days when those drive-in medical centers weren't big). Ooh relief from the seering pain.

Anyway, my input for Ty Junior is to at least have everything ready for a hospital visit - I do this when I'm not sure if I'm going to bring the Babe. Have a bag of toys for the waiting room, health card handy, snacks, etc. Let us know how he is. I haven't had a bump-on-the-head yet (my dainty girl prefers roaring 107 temperatures to keep me on my toes).

Baby Surveillance
 

Anyone have a video monitor and like it? I just ordered one w/ 2 cameras (for 2 rooms) from Summer Infant and am hoping it gets decent reception. Thoughts?

The Lexling got his leg jammed so hard in the crib slats that we almost had to break the crib to get him out and I had no idea - I thought he just didn't want to nap and was letting him CIO.

Baby Surveillance
 

We have also considered getting one, but have yet to take the plunge. Everyone we've surveyed who has one doens't know how they ever got along without it.

In other news, along with just about everyone else on this board, the Sandwiches are expecting another baby. This will be our third.

It will be a planned C-section (we're not big fans of the VBAC), but we're not finding out the child's sex in advance.

Baby Surveillance
 

Actually, we're trying to wean ourselves off of the (audio) baby monitor entirely. Damn thing drags us out of our sleep (or whatever) and into his room with every whimper. Things run much more smoothly when the monitor is off - Trepidation Tot puts himself back to sleep just fine, and God knows the apartment isn't big enough that one can just hide from the sound of a determinedly crying infant. Unfortunately, Trepidation Dad has a new toy, a humidifier, in the bedroom, a nice noisy one because he likes background noise when he sleeps, and with that thing on we can't hear a damn thing. (Actually, I really should get my ears checked, because I truly can't hear a damn thing with that sort of background noise. Different complaint.) Anyhow, since he got it we've had to put the monitor back on "just in case," and, thanks to our new awareness of every toss and groan, Trepidation Tot is waking up routinely 2-3 times every night again, expecting bottles and hugs. Damn it! I'm trying to solve this by making Trepidation Dad get up to deal with all night time crying (hoping he'll decide he loves his sleep more than his humidifier), but to no avail.
Contratulations!

Baby Surveillance
 

I got one because it was cool. I don't use it much, but we got a mobile color one, which is pretty sweet. That means you can take it pretty much anywhere and set it up, like if you go to grandma's. It also has night vision, which is also super cool.

Baby Surveillance
 

Come on, we all know you keep yours in the au pair's room.

Baby Surveillance
 

Busted. That reminds me, I need to turn up the heat in that room.

Baby Surveillance
 

Just remember that the wireless ones generally aren't encrypted in any way -- so be sure you're not pointing it at anything you want want your neighbors to be able to see and hear.

We were happy to get off the audio monitor -- after I made the mistake of telling my wife that I was ready for her mom to go home -- while we were in the nursery and the MIL was next to the receiver.

No real harm done or offense taken, but we decided we didn't want to have to worry about someone else tuning into our happy home.

Baby Surveillance
 

I have this one.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...122643-5684604

And I like it. I keep the sound all the way turned down, so I can't hear anything on it, but like being able to turn the screen on and get an idea of what's going on in the Brazenette's room.

The reception isn't great, but good enough to see her and to hear her on the ocaissions that I've turned up the volume. I think it depends on how far apart you keep the monitor and the camera.

Baby Surveillance
 

Congrats!!!!!!!

I looked into VBAC very seriously - it turns out that the 2002 JAMA study concerning uterine rupture has some serious problems. What it boils down to is that given a transverse uterine cut, VBAC is no more dangerous than regular labor EXCEPT for those being induced. Given the size of #1 (would have been 11lb+ if allowed to bake to term) and the probable size of #2, it's either go full term with an 11lb baby (doable, I'm tall) or a planned c-s. Hmmmmm - what sounds even less appealing than major surgery??? Tentatively, we'll be snipping em out on 6/30. If it weren't for the size issue, however, I might try a VBAC.

You have far more willpower than I concerning sex. (Um, the baby's - obviously you have even less willpower than most when it comes to sex.) I am way too impatient not to find out.