Well Baby

It's probably pretty telling that I still consider The Kid's annual checkup a "well baby" visit. He has corrected me many times and no matter how many times I say "well child" out loud, in my head I always think "well baby".

Today was The Kid's 7 year WELL CHILD checkup. It started out great. He answered the nurse's questions and although I cringed a little when he listed his favorite things to do at home (video game, video game, computer game) he gave good honest answers. He peed in a cup – always fun – and we waited for our doctor to come in.

I have to say right now – I love our pediatrician. She is kind and empathetic, not afraid to offer a little parenting advice if she feels it's in order. (We met during a crisis. We had just moved to San Antonio and were in the no man's land between health insurance coverage. It was seven more days before our insurance kicked in when The Kid (who was four) came down with a virus and started vomiting. And vomiting. And vomiting. We called Frank's department chair who was really our only acquaintance at the time and he gave us Dr. I's name and number. I called at 4:45 pm and she listened and then she said, "Laura, you have to take him to the hospital. I'm sorry, but he's getting dangerously dehydrated." She gave me impeccable driving directions to the Children's Hospital. She called the emergency room while we were checking in to make sure we got there okay and called again to talk to us before we left. She saw The Kid the next day to follow up and never charged us for the office visit. She's awesome.) I could tell that the eye exam was not going well. She asked Max to repeat his answers several times. She suggested we see a pediatric ophthalmologist and get his eyes checked. She gave me a referral. Then she had The Kid touch his toes and glancing at his bare back said, "Is there any history of scoliosis in your family?"

I froze. And I must admit at this point, I had a very light breakfast and my blood sugar was getting a little low. No, no scoliosis unless I contracted it from reading Judy Blume, haha. With some crazy visions of back braces and general misery, I heard her say that we should just keep an eye on it. She'd have a look again in a few months. We said goodbye and left the office.

I dropped The Kid off at school and he arrived just in time for recess! As I was driving home, worried about how I would get The Kid to wear glasses and possibly a back brace, my cell phone rang. They found blood in The Kid's urine and would need another sample tomorrow. This was the straw that broke my anxious momma back. I swore a little bit – creative swearing adding the letter y to words I hardly ever use.

I came home, had a hysterical conversation with Lefty, a second hysterical conversation with my mom who assured me that my cousin's kidney disease was an infection and not genetic and told me to go eat some lunch. I googled children + blood in urine and ate lunch.

After consuming a plate full of rice, I had read at least 10 articles that assured me that a little blood in urine is not a big scary deal and that it shows up in a certain percentage of kids FOR NO DEFINABLE REASON, I relaxed.

I think, I hope my baby is well. We'll see what tomorrow's urine says. Let's hope it says, "Hi. I'm just pee."