The only times I truly question our moving to India is when something happens to Oliver. The first thought that ALWAYS runs through my mind is, "why did we move him away from the pediatrician who is always on call?" Oliver took the corner of the coffee table to his forehead Monday last week (I was right next to him!) and he wailed for about ten minutes. Once he finished crying, I started. I got our things together along with an ice pack for my boy's head and decided to take him to the health center. It was a head injury after all! There was swelling and even a little cut. I was crying the entire walk to school. My friend, Vimmi, saw me and asked me what was wrong (how I must have looked to her!). I showed her Oliver's bump and started sobbing. She gave me a huge hug and said that everything would be fine. Bumps happen. Get used to it. We always cry harder and longer than they do. Her husband had slammed their daughter's finger in the car door that weekend, and she is just fine now! At this point, Oliver was smiling at her and laughing and seemed to have completely forgotten that he had dented his head just 30 minutes earlier. We never made it to the health center. Two more mothers who work at the school saw me crying on Vimmi's shoulder and reiterated everything she said. I gathered myself to go find Andy who asked with a horrified look "WHAT HAPPENED TO HIS HEAD???!!!" I sobbed some more. Our friends Ahbra and Marcus (also Dads) came out of the Alumni office and hugged me while laughing, "[Our wives] were the same way!" Ahbra even said "Babies bounce! No worries!"
My aunt Patti's words were ringing in my ears: "Babies are very hard to kill." Deep breaths, lots of snuggles with Oliver and a large whiskey that night helped me get over the coffee table collision. I know there will be more like that to come. I need to toughen up.
Then on Friday seemingly out of nowhere, Oliver developed Thrush. It presented as a white tongue, a white spot on his inner cheek and immediate, awful diaper rash. Luckily, my friend Rose has a nineteen month old, Ennis, who had Thrush as a brand new baby. She gave me lots of pointers and we got liquid probiotics, anti-fungal cream, cortisone cream and acidophilus capsules from the health center. Everything was seeming okay; the diaper rash calmed within 24 hours and even the white spots in the mouth seemed to disappear. But then last night, Oliver SCREAMED, howled, wailed as I was putting him to bed. For a full hour I rocked him, sang , shushed, even pulled Andy off of a Skype call with his brother for assistance. We had never seen him like this. He was just beside himself; inconsolable. After an hour of piercing screams, a dose of baby Tylenol was administered and he drifted off to restless sleep.
This morning I took him to see the doctor at the health center for a once-over; what is upsetting my happy kid? I mean, he has never even had a cold, what is going on? Anything from teething to growing pains to a bad dream was the answer. Did I mention the doctor is from Chicago? We have already had the restaurant/neighborhood/sports teams talk. He's great and he doesn't treat me as if I am an annoying, frantic mother. He always answers my questions calmly and with a lot of reassurance. Oliver is perfectly healthy, the thrush is clearing too. He is starting to wake up from his nap now, I can hear him talking.
So we don't have the 24 hours peds to call on but we do have a fantastic health center that is always looking out for us. We are really lucky, and I am so grateful that I can take Oliver there with total confidence.
My aunt Patti's words were ringing in my ears: "Babies are very hard to kill." Deep breaths, lots of snuggles with Oliver and a large whiskey that night helped me get over the coffee table collision. I know there will be more like that to come. I need to toughen up.
Then on Friday seemingly out of nowhere, Oliver developed Thrush. It presented as a white tongue, a white spot on his inner cheek and immediate, awful diaper rash. Luckily, my friend Rose has a nineteen month old, Ennis, who had Thrush as a brand new baby. She gave me lots of pointers and we got liquid probiotics, anti-fungal cream, cortisone cream and acidophilus capsules from the health center. Everything was seeming okay; the diaper rash calmed within 24 hours and even the white spots in the mouth seemed to disappear. But then last night, Oliver SCREAMED, howled, wailed as I was putting him to bed. For a full hour I rocked him, sang , shushed, even pulled Andy off of a Skype call with his brother for assistance. We had never seen him like this. He was just beside himself; inconsolable. After an hour of piercing screams, a dose of baby Tylenol was administered and he drifted off to restless sleep.
This morning I took him to see the doctor at the health center for a once-over; what is upsetting my happy kid? I mean, he has never even had a cold, what is going on? Anything from teething to growing pains to a bad dream was the answer. Did I mention the doctor is from Chicago? We have already had the restaurant/neighborhood/sports teams talk. He's great and he doesn't treat me as if I am an annoying, frantic mother. He always answers my questions calmly and with a lot of reassurance. Oliver is perfectly healthy, the thrush is clearing too. He is starting to wake up from his nap now, I can hear him talking.
So we don't have the 24 hours peds to call on but we do have a fantastic health center that is always looking out for us. We are really lucky, and I am so grateful that I can take Oliver there with total confidence.
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