My Birthday Wish

My birthday has not been so emotionally charged for a long time. Both my little darlings were due to see their pediatrician. Ethan, who was with his grandma since Artimus was born on February 20th, was sick but the grandma was probably too tired to take notice until Ethan was terribly irritated and ate nothing. JK flew out to pick Ethan up after hearing that he "sometimes" had 101 temperature. Artimus was due back for a weigh check. So off we went in the early morning but we were late because daddy thought Ethan was sound asleep and did not want to wake him. Mommy always has to do the dirty job. A poor judgment never go unpunished. We waited almost three hours before the kids were seen because there were a lot of sick kids that morning who came in without an appointment. Just imagine me trying to keep my newborn away from all the coughers and sneezers, and Ethan who could not keep himself away from Artimus -- I think my eyes were shooting fire at JK the whole time.

Anyway, so Ethan and Artimus were seen in the same room, with both screaming for their lives as they were stripped down to their diapers. Ethan has ear infection in both ears and a sore throat. His temperature was 103, which upset me because I had insisted that JK gives him motrin, not tylanol but JK was concerned about stomach pain for Ethan. Artimus has not regained her birth weight after 10 days and the doctor is very concerned about the breastfeeding. But she is alert so it's a matter of correcting whatever I was doing wrong. We were scheduled to be back for both kids to have a follow up.

With Ethan running high temperature, coughing and sneezing, we decided to watch over him ourselves. Afterall, Ethan is our responsibility. The challenge was keeping him away from Artimus and me. Keeping him away from me was a bit brutal so I succumbed. He really wanted mommy's hugs and kisses when he was in so much pain. Well, to my detriment, I have a slight sore throat and cold now.

I did not remember me on my birthday, just my children, hoping that Ethan will be his cheerful & playful self soon, and that Artimus gain back her birth weight by two weeks of life, and don't get sick from Ethan. There is really no medication for newborns.

I learned in recent days that parenthood is full of heartaches. Healthy children is not to be taken for granted. So this birthday, I wished my precious little ones are healthy and grows stronger each day.

JW
P.S. Talking to my mother actually made me feel better, now that we have parenthood experiences in common.