Mother Lion

Youngest Sweetie, Reid, just six weeks old, had some hardness and swelling in his chest when his mother gave him his bath Saturday evening. Here’s part of her story:

We headed to the emergency room, where we spent the next eight hours. It turned out he had a bacterial infection in his chest, a development that is not uncommon in infants, but still a major concern, obviously. …

Reid handled it very well. I handled it slightly less well, but did my best. The ER doctors had an extremely difficult time getting the IV in place, and actually tried about seven or eight times. It was torture for both Reid and me. I don’t know who cried harder. After the umpteenth failure, over several hours, I actually picked Reid up off the table, as they were looking for another place to stick, and told them that we were done. (In the end, after we were transferred [by ambulance], the children’s hospital brought in a neonatalogist, who put in the IV with no problem.)

At the time it was an emotional response more than anything else, because I felt I literally could not stand to see Reid get hurt one more time. I was actually somewhat embarrassed by my outburst. But looking back, I’m so glad I did it. Doctors can be so intimidating, even when they aren’t actively trying to patronize you. We hate to question them, and they hate it too! But I think sometimes they need to be reminded that they are treating people — in this case a little teeny people — not just solving puzzles.

Reid responded well to the antibiotics in the pediatric unit and was home by Monday night. He’s recovering nicely.

So is his mom — who wishes only that she’d spoken up after two or three tries, rather than waiting as long as she did.