“Those” Parents
It’s official, we’ve become those parents. You know the type, the ones that over-react and panic over the smallest of things.
So here’s the story. Saturday evening, just before bed time, we realized Baby MPB had one bright red eye. We instantly had two thoughts:
- Something is in his eye that could potentially blind him for life.
- He just has pink eye which is just generally uncomfortable and gross, but not that serious.
Because we couldn’t get the idea of blinding our son for life out of our minds we packed up and headed straight to the emergency room. We did briefly discuss waiting until Monday to see our family doctor, but seriously when you think your infant might be blinded for life there is no sane reason to wait 36 hours to see a doctor.
So, yes, we took Baby MPB to the emergency room for red eye.
And the doctor almost laughed at us when he saw Baby MPB and his little red eye.
Now, the doctor wasn’t mean at all, in fact he was rather nice. And so were the nurses and everyone we encountered. But ultimately, Baby MPB just had a red eye, maybe from some shampoo or from a dog fur or his own fingers rubbing his eye. We were assured that there is nothing in there that shouldn’t be. And we were told what to do if discharge appears before Monday when we could see our family doctor. And of course we were told to come back if things got worse. Ill admite, at no time did we actually contemplate that nothing was wrong and and his red eye was just a red eye. Ops!
So, the lesson of the weekend is that a bright red eye for only a few hours probably isn’t reason to panic. And I’ve now rationalized that this trip to the ER was probably a good thing because now we know what to expect if we are ever in a true emergency, in a way it was like a dry run which cost our public health system a small fortune. Ops!
But for us, as first time parents whose child has been remarkably healthy so far, we panicked. And I wont apologize for making sure my son isn’t going to be blinded for life!!
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Ha ha… glad Baby MPB and his poor red eye are OK! And I have SO been there with you: I called my mom (who is a nurse practitioner) in a panic one day because I thought Soren had torn the surface of his eye, until I realized a few minutes later that it was… an eyelash. 🙂
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Oh, having a nurse practitioner for a mom could be a bad thing – I’d call her ALL the time! 🙂
Glad Soren is also okay. 🙂
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Well I’m glad he was fine! You can’t be sure, as new parents. I don’t blame you for going to A&E – I go to the doctor for just about anything! And babies can’t tell you they’re okay! Hope his eye clears up soon. Xx
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His eye is perfectly okay by the very next morning. No further issues and no redness at all, thankfully. 🙂
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Glad to hear it!
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You live you learn. Only way we learn is through experience. Glad he’s ok. 😀
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Yes, you are right. The only way to learn is through experience. 🙂
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I think you’d be hard pressed to find a parent who hasn’t been in a similar scenario!!! Glad the little one is ok!
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Yes, I suspect you are right! It’s amazing how something so little can become such a HUGE deal in our minds! I too am really relieved that baby is okay. 🙂
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I think I’m starting to understand this feeling. Every little sneeze and hiccup makes me jump!!
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Yes, and the quiet also makes me jump! Really, almost everything makes me jump and worry.
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Lol, this is pretty funny. I’ve been surprisingly relaxed about little things that have come up with the babies. My rule has been that as long as they are eating, sleeping, and breathing well, then we’ll “wait and see”. But I did take my baby to the ER for what was really a minor gash that required no actual treatment from the ER. They didn’t even touch her, they just looked at it and gave us antibiotics since it was a dog bite. I’m sure they thought I was being ridiculous, but we were all traumatized from the experience and that was the only thing that was going to reassure us. We’re all new at this, we’ll learn. For the most part, though, it’s better to be safe and reassured. Being in the US with private healthcare, we received an invoice for nearly $1000 from our 20 minute ER visit. Oops!
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The doctor didn’t even touch our son either! Which I think had to do with not wanting to transfer any germs to him, which we appreciated.
I am so glad your little one wasn’t seriously hurt! And sometimes the cost of reassurance is worth it, but I’m sure not a pleasant either.
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Ha!! You’re too funny. But no price is too high to pay for reassurance of our little ones 🙂
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Exactly, there is no price to high for our little ones! 🙂
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Personally I think you did what lots of parents (first time or not) would do in that situation. And I love that you look at it as a dry run! Great attitude. Glad baby MPB is ok!
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Thanks RJ! I will admit we felt a bit stupid as we left the hospital, but at the end of the day I would have felt a lot different if something had been wrong and we didn’t go. So, I’m glad we went. 🙂
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Hahahaha. Kevin gets like that sometimes. Amora does this little full-body wiggle/shimmy/shake when she sits in her bumbo seat, right before she poops. We call it her “poop shivers.” But when it first started Kevin was flipping ooooooooout!!! He insisted I call the pediatrician to make sure it was “nothing neurological” LOL!!!!!
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This made me laugh! Your husband is adorable. So glad your baby girls is healthy. 🙂
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Pinkeye is the worst, I’m glad baby MPB is in the clear (and that he’s also not going blind)!
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While I’m thrilled he’s not going blind, I’m also rather happy that he didn’t have pinkeye. 🙂
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I think, when you’re a new mom, it’s just generally a good idea to meet your friendly neighborhood ER medical professionals. Since you will in all likelihood overreact to every.little.thing. So, if you think about it, this was a good thing. Now y’all know each other! haha! You are sooooooo not alone! Better safe than sorry! Glad baby MPB is just fine. 🙂
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Yes, you are correct! And knowing our local hospital is never going to be a bad thing, I just hope that we never have to go in an emergency. 🙂
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Yes, I hope it’s always a false alarm!
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Better safe than sorry! 😉
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Yes, exactly!
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Hahaa!! Totally on my wavelength with that one 😉😉😉 x
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hahaha! It’s funny the “silly” things we do as parents.
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Smiles! You are great parents! I am glad he is fine and can’t blame you after all the trauma you’ve had…I will have to try to stay sane myself when it is our turn. 😉 xoxo
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You will be just as silly and crazy when it’s your turn. And you will be great! 🙂
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haha I get this. When Monkey was a baby he ran really hot so I was constantly taking his temperature and panicking about him having some dreadful bacterial infection that I would miss. Ha! He was always fine. I suspect I’ll do a bit of the same with this one but hopefully not quite as bad. hehe
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Oh my gosh, I cannot imagine a fever! I would be a complete wreak! So far we’ve managed to avoid a fever, thankfully!
You are an amazing mommy, and I’m so excited for you to be “crazy” with your new little one! 🙂
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LOL. We did this today, but just to our GP’s office. Emery (8 weeks) swallowed a little water in the bath tub and my wife immediately googled “Dry drowning” and began to panic… so off we went. Baby was fine of course. But you can never be too sure!! It’s just what new parents do!
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I love that you did the same thing – not that you were scared but that you went straight to the doctor to have your little one checked out! Smart thinking! As you say, you can never to sure with these little ones. 🙂
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Hahaha oh dear. Don’t feel bad, I think all parents go through this, but just think how you would have felt if you didn’t go and there was something serious.
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Exactly! It was absolutely worth a trip to the hospital just so we are sure baby is okay! 🙂
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I, too, have very healthy kids so when something seems off, I sort of panic. Well… Brian panics and causes me to think i should too. Our kids aren’t circumcised and Brian’s been teaching them how to wash properly and a couple of weeks ago, he me that Ms penis is red. I didn’t look because i trusted his assessment and off to the doctor we went. It’s perfectly normal… It should be pink where it was pink. . The doctor told me to put a triple antibiotic on it if it would make me feel better. Brian did exactly as told. And he feels better. Ha! We paid out of pocket to be told his penis is 100% normal and for the poor kid to have a not-so-fun exam done on his privates.
So… We’re “those parents” too. 😉
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I guess there is a little bit of “those” parents in all of us!! I now completely get the better safe then sorry approach to our children. And thanks for reminding me of how fortunate I am to not be paying out of pocket for my parenting panics!
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Okay, this totally gave me a bit of a chuckle but it’s completely understandable for first time parents. So happy he’s okay and there’s nothing in there and no pink eye because giving babies (and just about any small child) eye drops is kind of a pain in the a**. 🙂
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It makes me chuckle now too! But at the time when all I could think about is making baby MPB blind, I was not laughing. 😊
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I took Wyatt at the doctor at 2 days old for a goopy eye. Turns out if I had done the illogical thing and googled it I would have discovered blocked tear ducts are a common side effect post delivery especially after foreceps. The best solution was breast milk which my doctor told me as she consoled a crying, crazy, over tired me. The eye cleared up within a few days, but I don’t regret taking him in. I think there’s something beautiful about being cautious with your child, especially after all it took to get them here. In the end, we are all just learning as we go.
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