How I Lost My Shot at Mother of the Year (ho ha ha ha ho ho)

This past Tuesday, I had a doctor's appointment. Grandma G was gracious enough to watch Lily and Mason for a couple hours. As I dropped them off, I muttered something about how Mason had been up all night again coughing and coughing and how he always is sooo dramatic whenever he has a cold and mopes around and how this playing with his cousins would be a good distraction and maybe he wouldn't be so very dramatic. And off I went (you know, because I was running a little late...as usual.)

I ran to Target quick before the appointment, though, to see if I could find anything that they would actually sell me for a person under 6 years old to relieve such constant coughing. Turns out there's honey elixir. "Wonderful!" I thought, "We'll all sleep tonight!" And on to the doctor I went.


As the nurse was taking my blood pressure, another nurse knocked on the door. "Um, ma'am, there's someone on the phone that is watching your child. Apparently he's having trouble breathing. You can pick up the phone and they'll transfer you."


"Oh!" I said. With very raised eyebrows, I'm sure.


"Hi, Cody. This is Gayle. Mason is having a terrible time breathing. He's breathing really fast and can barely talk...he keeps trying to catch his breath. I really think he should come in as soon as possible."


So in the next half a second, I thought: "Yes. That's what he always does. It always sounds so much worse than it is. Surely he's not having difficulty breathing. Surely he is just dramatic. Hmm. Grandma G is a nurse. And so is Aunt Kara, who is there too. Maybe he really can't breathe. Perhaps he really should come to the doctor."


And then I said, "Yes. Bring him in...I'm sure the doctor can work him in with me."


So I met them in the lobby about 10 minutes later, my boy looking quite sad and sick all of a sudden.


"Yeah, he sounds pretty bad. Does anyone in your family have asthma? Oh, and let's do a chest x-ray too." said the doctor.


It turns out that our boy really couldn't breathe (duh). He was diagnosed with bronchitis and "restricted airways" - or little kid asthma, probably cold induced. Poor boy really couldn't breathe. We came home with some delicious antibiotics and a nebulizer. Both have worked beautifully.

Sorry, buddy. I'm not sure where I was when the mothering instincts were passed out. But I'm glad - so very glad - you can breathe again. Because breathing is important. Love, Mama.