Monday, August 22, 2011

Pediatrician Kind of Monday...

Last night, I got to spend the entire night watching BREAKING NEWS coverage of the chaos in Libya. Not just because I am a total, self-admitted news junkie. As if a weekend of Josh and I both being sick wasn't enough, we thought we would start this week sick too. Fun.

Maggie woke up around 11 last night screaming and yanking on her ear. Seeing as she is my 3rd child, I know this means ear infection. Despite Motrin, warm rags, etc., we didn't do much sleeping. So we watched the events unfold in Libya and counted down the minutes until we could call the Pediatrician's office at 8am.

Now to call the Pediatrician is an art form in and of itself. If you call at 7:59, you get the machine. Once you redial, you are like 15th in line to talk to a receptionist. Call at 8am, sometimes you get the machine and sometimes, you are lucky to be 4th or 5th. I have found with my substantial experience in the matter, it is best to call at 8:01. There is little risk of catching the machine and you usually end up higher than 5 but less than 10 in line to talk to the reception. Art form. Seriously.

So I dial at 8:01, Maggie is crying as I walk her around the house and get Will ready for school. The scary robot voice tells me that there are 5 callers ahead of me. Golden. 10 minutes pass and we finally get a human. Not bad. Nameless receptionist lady asks me if I can be there at 8:40. I ask back, 8:40? Yes, she answers, 8:40. I agree to take that appointment. Best to get it over with than listen to Maggie cry all morning. That gives me half an hour to get she and I ready, get Will down the street to Madi's house so he can carpool with them and get to the doctor's office on time. No problem.

Then I look in the mirror. Total hot mess. I can't go outside the confines of my car (I did drive Ian to school this morning. He never commented on my appearance. Maybe because he knew I wasn't getting out?) looking like this. So I tell Will to entertain Maggie for 3 minutes while I jump in the shower. All I heard was banging on the door and screams from her for me to hold her. She lived until I got out. She wouldn't let me blow dry my hair without holding her so I did the best I could. I threw on some clothes that actually matched, dressed her, grabbed bags and loaded everything (kids included) into the car. I had 7 minutes to get to the doctor. Went back in to grab my phone and purse, took a glance in the mirror. You guessed it. Still a hot mess. The only difference was my hair was still a little damp and I smelled better. Oh well.

Believe it or not, I made it to the Pediatrician with one minute to spare. We signed in, talked to the receptionist, and sat down in the sick area. We waited. We chatted with some people we knew. We waited. We read 2 books. We chatted with some more people we knew. We waited. People we talked with when we got there were leaving. 40 minutes into my wait, I went back to the receptionist lady to inform her I was still waiting. She asks our name. I give it. She informs me our appointment is at 9:30. Sleep deprived and without a single ounce of Diet Coke in my system, I felt the rage welling to my throat. I didn't yell but I was very loud. This is not the first or third time this has happened to me. It's more like the 5th. I love our doctor. I do not love the people who work in her office. I don't think they mean to screw up but they do. A lot.

My semi-hissy fit accomplished nothing but an apology. We waited until 9:30 to get called back. Maggie, luckily, was totally patient the entire time. If this had been Will, the story would have been much different.
After learning that Maggie weighed 29 pounds and I told the nurse the diagnosis. I looked down to notice that my shoes don't match my outfit. I didn't even care. We waited another 25 minutes to see our doctor. As unhappy as I was about the whole thing, it really didn't matter in the scheme of the amazing love and attention our doctor gives to our children. She apologized profusely for the entire thing but honestly, I can deal with her office staff because of the wonderful care we get from her. (She is the kind of Dr that calls you at night to check on your child after a visit to her office). Ear infection it is. Drops and antibiotic and she is doing fine.

It was a rough day but we survived. I even got to hear Will say prayers tonight. Instead of laughing, his tender words brought tears to my eyes. It was a prayer I needed to hear. It definitely cured my bad case of the Mondays!

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