Nebulizers and Pediatrician offices that are open on Sunday morning.

Today I found out that Charlie has a $10 copay on his insurance. This was a surprise because his well visits never came with a copay and Charlie's never been to the dr for a sick visit.

That's not to say he's rarely sick. The whole reason we ended up in the Pediatrician's office this fine Sunday morning is because he's been sick once a month since Thanksgiving and I guess his little immune system finally had enough. I'm not prone to taking my kids to the doctor, and they manage to get over almost everything with fluids, rest and vitamins (with lots of cuddling and TV watching thrown in for good measure). Besides, I called the dr. last week because I thought Charlie might have an ear infection or bronchitis or some other bacterial malady (he had been running a low grade fever for days after a cold), and they told me to call him if his fever got higher or if he still had it in three days. Bah. Be that way.

Still, after growing up in a family that literally never went to the doctor. I sometimes forget they (pediatricians) even exist. And quite frankly, that can be a problem. After being (in my imagination) snubbed by the receptionist with whom I have a long standing feud, it didn't occur to me to call them when Charlie suddenly developed a new cough. Nor did it occur to me that it was a problem when he got a fever yesterday. When he woke up at in the middle of the night and it was over 104 degrees, I was worried... really worried. He was so miserable his tiny heart was pounding like he was running a marathon, and he was panting like a sick puppy. All of that, and I didn't connect the dots until this morning after Jim and Jamie had left to church, and I was trying to occupy my little feverbox child with a variation of peek a boo. I even managed to get a few grins out of him when I finally noticed how hard he was struggling to breathe. Quick, pathetic little wheezing breaths as he smiled at me and asked me to play some more.

I did what I always do in that situation, which was call Aunt Patti (what would I do without a dr for an aunt). She guessed pneumonia and suggested I make my way to the ER since it was the weekend and my pediatricians office was obviously closed. I called them anyway just to leave a message with the answering service (maybe subconsciously I wanted to be vindicated for being told to bugger off earlier), but shockingly, they were open... until 12 pm. And it was 11:15 and we live over a half hour away. They said bring him in, and I assured them I was on my way.

I'm just grateful we didn't have to spend half the day in the ER. Apparently the local children's hospital has been so swamped lately, they've asked some of the pcp's to open up their offices on the weekends to help stave off the influx of sick kids waiting in the ER.

And that's how we ended up paying the sick copay, on a weekend, in an empty medical building, with a kid who has himself a whopping case of good ol' traditional pneumonia.


I promise, there's nothing wrong with his eyes. I'm not sure why they're closed in both pictures, but I am trying to take more snapshots of the boys throughout their every day lives, and I guess this is how Charlie decided to immortalize his babyhood pictures of being sick.