The Diagnosis

I think I have officially been broken in as a parent. I now have my first trip to Urgent Care under my belt.

I finally broke down and called our pediatrician's after hours line Sunday afternoon. Jackson was not getting any better and I wanted reassurance that we could wait until Monday morning to have him looked at. I didn't get it. Instead, our pediatrician recommended that we take him to Children's Mercy to be looked at right away. Her concern was his fever - which was 100.4 at its highest. Normally, 100.4 wouldn't cause great concern. However, because Jackson was premature, he still falls in that window where they take fevers very seriously.

I did my best not to panic, we loaded up the car and headed to Kansas City. I think at this point Drew thought I was pretty nuts for going to this extreme. But he kept it to himself (wise man that he is).

Quick plug here for our Pediatrician and for Children's Mercy Urgent Care Center. Get this...one of the doctors in our pediatrician's practice actually answered the phone. No operator. No recording. Not even a nurse. An actual doctor. I told her my name and before I even told her why I was calling she was reading me information from Jackson's file. After we agreed upon a plan of action, she called ahead to Children's Mercy so they would be expecting us. We arrived to a waiting room full of sick kids...but did not wait. In fact, our entire visit was about 1.5 hours start to finish. It was quite an impressive place. When Jackson was born we really debated about having a pediatrician in Kansas City (25-30 minute drive) as opposed to a local Lawrence doctor. But we liked them so well through our NICU and hospital experience that we decided to stick with them for awhile - thinking we may switch when he gets a bit older. I'm not so sure we'll do that now.

But I digress. The diagnosis...ear infection.

It makes perfect sense now. His runny nose was the start of it, I'm sure. His head jerks and painful cries - ear pain. The fever - fighting the infection. No cold. No flu. It's an ear infection.

His Daddy had chronic ear infections as a kid. Even tubes at one point I believe. So this may be something Jackson is going to be prone to. But now we know. And we know what his symptoms are. And we know how to treat it and make him more comfortable.

He started on amoxicillin last night and already this morning was a different kid. My baby is back! And I am so glad we didn't wait until this morning to get him some relief. (Guess I'm not so crazy after all, Drew!)

So we can now check a weekend run to Children's Mercy Urgent Care off our list of firsts as parents. As Drew was so kind to point out to me, I'm sure it won't be the last. But I have to say, if urgent care is needed there is no where I'd rather go.