Tales from my baby's booty

Nate has an enormous abscess on his ass. One night his ass is free and clear, the next morning there's this enormous flat buried mass. I gave it one day to clear up and then took him to the doctor.

She walked in, took a look, and froze. Then she said "Well!" and just stared. "Okay!" and another pause. It was not encouraging.

They gave a numbing cream and had us wander for a while. Then two nurses, plus me, plus Stewart, held him down on a table while they drained it with a razor. Blargh.

Directions were: give him a lot of baths, and antibiotics, and hope it drains itself. Keep an eye out for streaking or fever.

Now he has a fever. Same doctor was on call. Her response? "Well, it's unlikely to become a systemic infection. Keep an eye out for...[medical talk here]." Is there any way to get me to worry more? Couldn't she just have told me what to keep an eye on, without saying what she's scared of? I've already crept into his room twice to check to see if he's burning up with fever. Blargh.

Now he's awake and muttering to himself. Is it "I'm awake and muttering to myself" muttering? Or is it "I have a systemtic infection and I'm dying" muttering? It's so hard to tell from OUTSIDE THE ROOM. But if it's "I'm awake and muttering to myself" muttering, and I go in to check, it will turn into "You pissed me off and I demand a bottle immediately!" screaming and that's not good for either of us.

I am now relying on my mommy-mantra: He didn't die last night, he's probably not going to die tonight. I swear I use this. It actually helps me.

Also, he learned how to ding the bell on his bike today. Actually, he learned how yesterday but was still clumsy at it. Today he's a pro. He'll be joining the "bell dinging circuit" any second.

The talking is starting to snowball. A few days ago he finally got interested in trying to repeat what we're saying, and now it's constant. Today he reached out and touched my nose and said "no".

Wawo = water
No = nose
Nah = Nate
Ma = Mama
Da Da = Da Da
Ma = Grandma
Pa = Grandpa

and so on. The earnest babbling is constant, and I expect that real words are going to start working their way in soon. Assuming that he doesn't die tonight.

Off to sleep (aka: lie in bed awake hoping to hear Nate cry but also hoping not to so that he gets some sleep)

Blargh.