Mother of the Year

That's right. I've won. The rest of you can just take your names out of the running and concede.

As I mentioned previously, the trip to The Woods made Sparkle a bit congested. At first her nose was runny, then she became congested in her sinuses. Since we've been back from The Woods, that congestion has gone, and each morning she wakes up with a bit of a cough that goes away after she's been upright for a while.

As I may not have specifically mentioned before, I have a bit of a laid back approach to health care. I'm not one to rush to the doctor every time one of my little darlings sneezes or coughs. So, since Sparkle's symptoms started out as an allergy and have seemingly improved upon our return to the non-piney woods, I haven't been all the concerned about her recovery.

Well, Saturday came around and Mr. Swizzle took Sparkle to the doctor for her 12 month well check. Turns out? Not so much a well visit. Apparently, despite having no indication from Sparkle, she had an ear infection - bad in one ear, starting up in the other ear. Oh, and that slight rattle in her chest? Well, we need to check her blood oxygen level. Well, her blood oxygen level is 97% and that just won't do. Mr. Swizzle had to give her a breathing treatment at the doctor's office which brought her oxygen level up to 100%. They came home with prescriptions for antibiotics, a nebulizer, and associated medication and instructions to give breathing treatments three times a day for a week. Yee ha!

Now, I must say I'm still not entirely convinced all of this is necessary. But I'm not a doctor. This child has not had a fever, she has not whined or cried as if she's in pain, she has not pulled at her ears. She has done absolutely nothing but be a happy baby that wakes up with a cough. But, I will, obviously, treat my child as instructed, hoping that I'm not giving her unneeded antibiotics. At least it's only breathing treatments for a week. Hopefully giving her THAT medication won't have any long lasting effects. I'll have to research that.

It just seems to me that kids today have more cases of allergies and ear infections and asthma than ever. I often wonder if jumping on the antibiotics and other medications right away can be detrimental down the road. Obviously these things are needed, but it just seems like the body often doesn't get a chance to fight off things on its own.

But I digress.... I won't even go into a lot of detail about "the incident" at church yesterday with Twinkle that secures my Mother of the Year award. Suffice it to say that it's difficult to carry a kicking and screaming six year old out of church while wearing heels. I thought maybe the pre-Eucharist hymn that was going on at the time would cover some of the sound. Apparently not.