Poorly Baby and Mothers Instinct

Being a mummy is the most wonderful thing in the world! Every minute spent with your little one is precious and every smile and giggle heartwarming. There are so many pleasurable experiences of being a parent which makes it even harder when things aren't quite so rosy.

For the past couple of weeks Xander has been under the weather. Initially I thought it may have been just a cold ( and even blogged about it) we visited the doctors a couple of times and they just said the same. However he got progressively worse. When we woke up on Wednesday to discover him wheezing and seeing his little chest struggle to take breath we took him to the doctors. We was told that his cold had progressed into a chest infection and given some antibiotics.

For almost 24 hours we wrestled the medication into a wriggly baby not convinced that they were actually benefitting him in anyway. The next day I made another appointment to see the doctor as in my eyes he had not improved, if anything he'd worsened.

We saw a different doctor who subsequently dismissed that he has a chest infection. He said that before we could diagnose Xanders illness we needed to try and clear his stuffy nose. He sent us away with a prescription for saline solution and a review appointment booked in the the next day.

That takes us to yesterday. We visited the doctor who thoroughly examined Xander and confirmed his suspicions that Xander has bronchalitis. He referred him to the hospital calling ahead to the Childrens Ward to inform them of our arrival.

Hospital. That shocked me. Hospital is where you go if you're really sick. I don't want our baby to be really sick. I frantically called hubby who was at work and told him. He calmed me down and said It'll be fine. He asked me if I wanted him to come home from work (he's just started a new job) so I told him I'd on initially ask my sister to come with us but keep him updated. If needs be he can join us at the hospital.

Before setting off I rushed home. What if he has to stay in? What of we are there a long time? You would think from my packing that we only lived a 10 minute drive from the hospital and that we could go home at anytime to pick anything up! Three bags later (his nappy bag, one with spare bottles and milk, one with toys and clothes) we set off.

We parked up and went straight up to the children's ward. We was seen straight away and taken to a ward.
A doctor promptly saw Xander took his temperature, checked his oxygen levels, checked his throat, examined his chest and listened to him cough. She quickly diagnosed that he had bronchalitis.

The doctor informed me that bronchalitis is quite common especially in babies under six months old. 2/3rds of the beds in the children's ward are currently full with bronchalitis cases. In fact the baby in the cubicle just next to us had a baby with an identical cough and complaint to Xander's.

Fortunately he was well enough to come home with us, unfortunately there's no medication we can give him we just have to see it through. We've been given open access to the children's ward this weekend. If he gets any worse or we're concerned in any way we can go straight back there. So a quiet weekend and lots of mummy and baby snuggles for us. Hoping that he improves soon.

A word of advice for parents. You know your own children. You be the judge. Don't be fobbed off by a doctor if you're not convinced with what they say get a second or third opinion. I never really understood the term mothers instinct until this week, but it definitely does exist. Mum really does know best.