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Children's health

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Original poster

It's 4.30am, I'm going to be up all night with DS, company appreciated

46 replies

OmicronPersei8 · 14/12/2009 04:38

So DS is breathing fast and shallow, I've been on the phone to the out of hours doctor and he's had calpol and has had a steamy 20 mins in the bathroom. The doctor's phoning back in half an hour. The noise of the shower woke DD up, so we're all sitting on the sofa watching Horton hears a who.

So I'm waiting to see if DS's breathing improves/stays the same/deteriorates, and whether I get a home visit or a trip to A&E.

Anyone out there to hold my hand/keep me company? Poor DS is exhausted - he woke at about 3am. I'm hoping he'll have a kip now.

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Original poster

OmicronPersei8 · 14/12/2009 05:29

Yes I'm in London. I think it helps that I'm on the way to another visit they're doing.

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Original poster

OmicronPersei8 · 14/12/2009 05:31

I had the regular one in my pocket yesterday (both DC poorly), now I can't find it! I prefer it and it is very inconvenient that it's gone missing.

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Original poster

OmicronPersei8 · 14/12/2009 05:35

Oh well I guess I'll add this experience (and all the great advice) to my current bumped heads and mild-to-moderate eczema archives.

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SofiaAmes · 14/12/2009 05:36

Wow, not the london I experienced. But since you are in London the paediatric A&E at St. Mary's is absolutely the way to go if you do have a sick child and a dr won't come out. In the end we found that it was worth the 1/2 hour drive instead 5 min to our local hospital, because they would always see ds immediately and knew how to deal with a sick baby. At the time they weren't 24 hours, but were open late and weekends.

SofiaAmes · 14/12/2009 05:38

At least you have an older dd, so you know that it gets better when they can talk and tell you what's wrong.

Original poster

OmicronPersei8 · 14/12/2009 05:40

I know the pediatric A&E at St Mary's well! Nice waiting room. Central Middlesex is good for parking and also has a pediatric A&E, but not so nice waiting room.

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SofiaAmes · 14/12/2009 05:45

We've had a few doozies with ds...including him waking up one morning unable to walk. He couldn't put any weight on one of his legs (he was 6 at the time). We were visiting my parents and literally in the middle of switching paediatricians so all his medical records were in the mail between the two drs and we had our new patient appointment a few days later with the new dr. Luckily my father's lab was at Children's Hospital and he made a few calls and got us into a local paediatrician who immediately diagnosed Transient Sinovitis (inflamed hip joint triggered by a cold), but sent us to a&e to make sure that it was definitely that and not an infected hip joint (much much more serious). 6 hours later (and $11,000 later...this is the us) it was confirmed that it was simply Transient Sinovitis and that high doses of ibuprofen would cure it in a few days! Only 4% of kids get it...figures my ds would be one of them....and then he managed to get a recurrence of it which only 5% of the 4% get.

SofiaAmes · 14/12/2009 05:46

Are you in nw london? We were in Harlesden (and then in Acton) and those were exactly my 2 choices.

SofiaAmes · 14/12/2009 05:47

But central middlesex did not have a pediatric a&e when we were there.

SofiaAmes · 14/12/2009 05:49

In fact I spent one horrible night being sent from one nurse/doctor/ward to another for 4!!!!!!! hours before they found a doctor who knew how to look in an infant's ear for an ear infection (which I knew my ds had since he'd already had several before). Never mind that he had a 105 temperature and they wouldn't listen to me that capol was useless on him and they had to give him high doses of ibuprofen.

SofiaAmes · 14/12/2009 05:51

By the way, I am watching x factor on you tube while I am typing....I really wanted stacy to win.

SofiaAmes · 14/12/2009 05:53

but I'll settle for Joe (they just announced that he was the winner)....Olly was too boring for me (and my dd thinks joe is cuter)

MumGoneCrazy · 14/12/2009 05:53

Dp is out of work at the moment and feels bad about it so does as much as he can around the house which includes getting the kids ready in the mornings and off to school so i can have lie in because i do the night feeds. Bless him he's a star

The baby hasnt woken again since being sick and her breathing doesnt sound so nasal so hopefully she'll get a decent bit of sleep and me..well i might as well stay up now just incase DP sleeps through the alarm which he usually does if he isn't asleep by 1am

I hope your DS is feeling better soon Omicron
and that you dont have to wait to long for the doctor

SofiaAmes · 14/12/2009 05:54

I hope your ds is doing better. Is dr there yet?

MumGoneCrazy · 14/12/2009 05:57

Sorry it takes me so long to reply...for some reason im watching home alone 2 and kinda enjoying it

SofiaAmes · 14/12/2009 06:03

Glad to hear your baby is feeling better. Hope your dp gets work soon. It's just as dire here in the usa.

MumGoneCrazy · 14/12/2009 06:07

Thank you

Original poster

OmicronPersei8 · 14/12/2009 06:07

The doctor's been and gone - DS has a chest infection and has some antibiotics now. I'm just trying to figure out whether or not to send DD in today - she's under the weather too, another day off might stop it getting worse. Anyway, she's only going in if DH takes her, as I intend to take it easy today.

Sofia, yes I'm in that general area! Central Middlesex was completely rebuilt a few years ago. I'm still about your $11,000 diagnosis!

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Original poster

OmicronPersei8 · 14/12/2009 06:08

Sofia are you a native of the us or uk?

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MumGoneCrazy · 14/12/2009 06:15

One day off wont hurt her and she's been up a while so will only be tired and cranky (if she's anything like mine when they are tired) when it's time to go.

SofiaAmes · 14/12/2009 06:20

So glad that it's just a chest infection and curable with antibiotics! Keep your dd at home...one day in the week before xmas holidays...I'm sure she won't miss too much and better to stave off her getting ill too.
I am an American, but my dh is English. I went to London for 2 weeks to work on a project and met dh and stayed 7 years. Both my children were born there and we moved back to the usa when ds was almost 5 and ready to start school as I was not happy with the options available to me in the UK (both dh and I are atheists which meant that there were not any good state school options and although I had applied and got a place for ds at the American School, I really didn't want him to go to private school). I also hated living in England.
Don't worry about the $11,000...I have health insurance and in any case, the hospital wrote off the portion of the bill that the insurance didn't pay (I had a high deductible plan) because I am in a low income bracket and they have state subsidies that let them write off bills for poor people. I would take the medical care I am getting here any day over what I experienced in England. Although here I pay for health insurance and the bills that the insurance doesn't pay, I pay much less in tax than I did in the UK and I get to pick my own doctors, hospitals and specialists and don't have to be on a waiting list for 18 months to get an essential operation done (had a bone growth in my toe that became so painful during pregnancy with dd that I couldn't walk but still had to wait 18 months to get the op) and I'm not stepping over dead pigeons to get into my local hospital (happened to me at Hammersmith).

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