Ranting and Raving...Stressful Day

So, loads of fun today. In the last several days, more than one person has independently stated that they thought Jack was looking a little yellow. I hadn't noticed but after the second comment, I started to see it a little. So today I finally decided I'd better take him to get checked out just in case. Jason's new job is a new company and they don't yet offer benefits, so we're without medical insurance. This probably complicated my decision making process, or at least delayed my choice to take Jack in a little. If we'd had insurance I would have gone in in a heart beat. But after watching him with no changes for a couple of days I decided I'd rather fork up the cash and be safe then have a serious health problem for my son.

I just felt sick to my stomach all morning. I spent an hour or so reading about jaundice and the possible causes and treatments, etc. online. I knew consuming too much beta carotene could cause the tinting of his skin, but as much as Jack loves carrots and such, we'd eaten mainly green veggies in the last week or so. That's just what I'd had on hand. So I started panicking myself about all the possibilities.

So anyway, our normal doctor, who I LOVE, was out of town on a conference so we were sent to the associate clinic. The doctor there was just as wonderful, aside from the one hour wait. :) But he was really good with the kids and very informative with me. He agreed that Jack looked yellow, asked a ton of questions to make sure he had all the information, explained possible scenarios, even dumbed them down for me, and was just really nice overall. By the time we were done, we were going home with a prescription for a mild ear infection, another for severe acid reflux, and an order for blood work and liver tests at the hospital. Yay!

Now, aside from Jack being slightly yellow he's been a little lethargic lately. I've attributed this to the cold that has made its home in our little family the last week and a half. Apparently that was the ear infection. My sweet baby never once tugged at his ears or complained in the slightest. He was simply a little more snuggly, and being a snuggler, I wasn't about to complain!

Then, aside from being yellow and the ear infection, I decided as long as I was there I would ask about Jack's eating habits. The boy eats RAVENOUSLY! He will eat and eat and eat, shoveling food into his mouth as if he hasn't had any in weeks at every meal and yell for more until he either throws up or we remove him from the table and distract him. It's really almost comical. I couldn't decide whether or not to be concerned and just told myself he was a big eater. And he's spit up a ton since he was a baby but was never fussy about it, so I figured it wasn't an issue. Well, although he is a healthy boy, for the amount of food he is eating, his weight gain is consistently slowing. He's actually gained less than 3 pounds in the last 5 months. However he is VERY healthy. (That sentence can be translated and read, "I'm not a bad mother, I swear!")

We also discussed that I've still been nursing. I know, I know. He's eleven months old. Was I planning to nurse him until he was in college? NO! I've actually been ready to be done for a while. Because Payson was premature she didn't nurse well and I had to stop early. I felt really guilty for it and was determined to do better the second time around. So I refused to give Jack bottles afraid he would prefer them. Then, once nursing was established and I finally offered the bottle he wouldn't take them. The last few months have been a nightmare trying to wean. He HATES formula!

So the doctor suggested that he probably has severe acid reflux and gave us a prescription. He said that if that helped to keep food down and if switching Jack to whole milk helped his appetite and weight gain, then there was nothing to worry about. However, if in the next two to three weeks there's no change, he wants to begin a series of tests to see if there's another problem.

Problem #1, the ear infection. No biggie. Picked up the antibiotics. Problem #2, weight gain/reflux/nursing. Probably pretty simple. Jack took whole milk in a sippy cup just fine tonight and I didn't have to nurse him at all. He's sleeping like a baby...I totally just typed that without even thinking that he actually is one. Ha ha! I'm dumb!

Anyway, so problem #3, the possible jaundice. So we headed to the hospital and waited for half an hour to have so much blood drawn from that sweet, tiny little arm! So awful! I wanted to cry! But Jack was a trooper. And luckily he has his dad's good veins so there were no problems getting enough blood for all the tests they wanted to run. Then we ran to the pharmacy, which was a nightmare. First, the pharmacist was off to lunch, so I waited fifteen minutes for him to return. The prescriptions were called in a couple of hours ago at that point, but he said they had come in later, so it would be five minutes to get them together. Fine. I can wait five minutes. Ten minutes later (just to be safe) I check back. A girl tells me the first guy didn't know what he w talking about and it would be at least another fifteen to twenty minutes. Fine. I've waited this long. I'm not going to drive home just to turn around and come back. So thirty five minutes and a few temper tantrums from the kids after that, I finally get the prescriptions! Ugh!

I spent the rest of the afternoon fighting back tears trying not to let my dramatic side take over and convincing myself that my son's liver wasn't failing and he wasn't going to die. I know, right? I'm seriously a little crazy like that. I was totally convinced that he must have some kind of tumor and all of his organs were going to begin shutting down one at a time and I was going to have to bury my baby boy. I'm so ridiculous. Anyway, the doctor finally calls just before I sit down to dinner to say the results of the test had come back. I'm totally wiped out and just terrified to hear it, but ready to know one way or the other.

And he's fine. All liver tests came back completely normal. No explanation for the yellowness of his skin. WEIRD! WONDERFUL! BIG sigh of relief. My baby isn't dying. I really am just over dramatic. Thanks heavens!! So now he just needs to fight of this silly little ear infection and get a little fatter and I'll have nothing to worry about! Except maybe fighting off girls for the next twenty something years!

Thanks goodness tomorrow's a new day. :)