GOT THE HANG OF IT--OR DO I???

Things were going along very smoothly after I got adjusted to having a new arrival in the house and I thought it was pretty much a "piece of cake". Well, that is what I thought up until this happened.--

One afternoon I laid my then 6 month old down for a nap. In those days it was told that they sleep better on their stomach, so this was the custom. Now they don't want you to lay the baby down for naps on the tummy.

Later on I heard our baby arouse and I went in to see her. She was burning up with fever and acting very strangely. I quickly took her temperature and it was sky high. I hadn't left it in very long and I was so frightened. I rushed to the phone to call the doctor up immediately. They proceeded to walk me through what to do. Number 1 they told me to take rubbing alcohol and water (equal parts) and rub her down with a washcloth to get the fever down.

I went back to the crib and in my rush to call the doctor, I hadn't turned her over on her back and her face was buried into the sheet. I was so scared that she had smothered, I grabbed her and she let out the weakest little cry. This was the first sickness she had since she was born and I totally wasn't prepared for this.

I don't know whether she had the flu or a cold, but I took her to the doctor and she was one SUPER GOOD PEDIATRIC DOCTOR. I knew I could count on her whenever I needed her. She always told me that she would never give children antibiotics, unless she thought not giving antibiotics would be taking a gamble. She explained that when the child might need them the most, if you give them too often, they then aren't as effective. She was really a good doctor and her office was filled with children.

So when I thought I had the hang of taking care of a baby, I still needed a lot to learn and believe me there were more learning for me yet.

Wisdom--Some babies get head colds and others get colds and immediately go to their chest. My first child was the kind that whenever she got a cold, it would settle in the chest. So I was really careful about her catching colds.