The Great Mom Debate: When to Go to The Doctor

My two boys are sick. Baby C has only been sick a few days, but four-year-old B is going on about seven days. I think. I can't remember, exactly. Here's where the guilt starts, because that's a question the doctor's office asks, and a good mom should know, right? I just know he's been sick for a while and the fever has been about 101-102 the whole time.

Yes, he's been coughing like that since the beginning, I think before the fever started. Let me check my notes. Oh, wait. I didn't think to take notes because I have three kids and don't think every cough means something. Sometimes it's just a cough, right? Especially at my house, with allergies running rampant and animals running wild (see previous post). Plus, if it clears up in a few days, I did all that extra work for nothing!

So now my husband wants to know if I--as a mom--think he's sick enough to see the doctor. And I start to panic a little inside. Because there's that fine line between the Overprotective Mom, who runs to the doctor the second her prince (or princess) sniffles, and the Oblivious Mom, who has no clue her child has chicken pox until the scabs are falling off.

At least that's how it feels when I'm at the doctor's office. You get the usual questions: How long has he been coughing? How long has he been running the fever? How many wet diapers (or whatever they ask for potty trained boys, we haven't been sick since potty training finally took hold)? How much has he eaten? Did his coughing get bad enough during the night to wake him?

I don't know the answer to these questions. Why can't they ask the questions that are easy? Like, how many tv shows have you erased from your DVR? Were they 1/2 hour or full-hour shows? How high was the volume to hear over the coughing? How many nights did your husband bring home Chinese, pizza, or other take-out? Were you able to sleep in your bed, or did you sleep with your child in the recliner/toddler bed/rocking chair? How many days since you shaved your legs (now that, I think I could estimate!)?

Those are questions I could probably answer, and it would give the doctor the same approximations. I guess I should just re-write the questions in my head as we're going along, and I'll be okay. If I could remember, since I'm so tired.

But the problem is, if I go in too soon, I get the "Overprotective Mom" treatment. You know, where they treat you like your child is ill, but you know behind your back they are rolling their collective eyes. "Your child has a virus, it will run its course and be gone, possibly before you get home," is what they want to say. I feel it,  I've done it, I hate it.

Wait too long, though, and you not only endure the above questions, you also get treated like "Oblivious Mom," the one who probably would miss a broken arm. I know I wouldn't, at least for very long. At least if it looked funny, or if he was crying.

But that isn't the point; the point is, it's been several days that my little boy has been sick, and my husband wants to know my professional mom opinion of going to the doctor. Which is to pray the fever breaks tonight and makes the decision for me.