Perspective

I got home yesterday afternoon from a 3 day stint at the hospital with Pipo. He woke up Sunday morning with a very high fever, headache, and then his nose started to bleed. Enough to make this battle tested mom pretty nervous. In the end, the bloody nose was a coincidence, and the fever and headache we are assuming was some type of run of the mill virus or infection. But given his complications, and the fact that he had just gotten over pneumonia last week, his pediatrician and kidney specialist both agreed he should be kept for 48 hours with IV antibiotics. They don't take any chance with a kid with a compomised immune system, and that's just fine by me.

It's amazing to me that having never been in the hospital overnight (other than for childbirth) and none of my kids having been in over night other than a scheduled procedure... I've been there twice now in not much more than a month. This is a streak we want to break. ER visits I can deal with, especially when I accept the fact of what type of children I am dealing with. Hospital stays... I'd like to avoid.

With Tommy, I was nervous not knowing what was up with him, he was nervous about everything, and the entire short ordeal was absolutely exhausting on all of us. With Pipo, he is so completely used to hospitals, having spent the better part of his young life in one in Haiti. I knew it was all precautionary, so I wasn't worried about him. It happened to be a quiet weekend at our little local hospital, and there were not many other kids in the ward. Pipo was doted on because of this, with many a nurse stopping in to say Hi, and bring him little treats because "he's just so cute!" They also gave us the nicest room on the floor, as it was unoccupied.

So yesterday morning, I woke up at dawn, anticipating the early AM nurse coming in for vitals. I sat sipping a cup of tea in a rocking chair in the corner, facing two huge windows looking out over the Concord river, and watched one of the most beautiful sunrises I've ever seen. Then I flipped open the menu, and called room service (I love this hospital!) and ordered us up a couple of hot breakfasts. I sat and read my book for a bit until our pediatrician stopped by, and then spent a great 20 minutes chatting away with him.

All in all, it's hard for a busy mom of 7 to complain about a getaway like this. It reminded me why I used to tell the birthing center nurses at the same hospital that I came back every year for my "annual spa vacation."