You Remember When I Mention Cheetah Getting Into Everything...

Well it gets worse.  Is there a higher infant mortality rate for fourth children to first children?  I'm serious. This kid gets hauled around way more by unsteady hands, is exposed to more on the floor, and gets a lot more unsupervised time.  My least favorite thing that the kids do, pick her up and then start fighting over her while she is in their arms.  Yes she has gotten hurt in these scuffles.  Yes they have been forbidden to hold her for entire days because I'm so ticked off about it.  I understand she is their favorite toy, but for crying out loud, I'd like her to make it to adulthood without too many ER visits.

Speaking of which I almost took her yesterday.  I got home from running errands at noon.  Cheetah was asleep in her car seat so I started to unload the groceries.  All the sudden I heard her screaming.  I got her out and then went next door to talk to my neighbor.  I figured she'd calm down as soon as she realized she was being held.  She didn't.  I tried to nurse her, figuring she was hungry.  She was irate.  I bounced her, rocked her, talked sweetly in her ear.  Nothing helped.  I finally brought her back home where the madness continued.  There was one position she'd let me hold her in, facing me, my arm across her back.  If I moved her at all, jostled her going up the stairs, tried to turn her, tried to lay her down she would scream.  I had to do everything one handed.  I was worried so I called Dr. J.  "Something is wrong with Cheetah," I told him.  He gave me a list.  Does she have a fever, is she eating, is her stomach rigid, is her fontanel bulging, are her lips bluish, is she gassy, can she move her legs, will she let you move her legs."  "No, no, no, yes, yes, yes."  The questions and my responses gave us no answer.  He told me he'd check her out when he got home, then went off to work with patients.

An hour later things had not resolved. I was seriously worried.  I texted him again and he told me to call the pediatrician if I thought it couldn't wait.  I did and they had me leave a message on the nurse help line.  Two hours later they still hadn't responded and I was texting friends asking if they could watch the other kids while I took her to urgent care.  Finally the nurse called back.  They asked the same question Dr. J had asked.  Got the same answers.  "Well," the nurse said, "Sounds like something is wrong.  Bring her in tomorrow if she is still acting like this.  Take her to the emergency room if you can't wait until tomorrow."  Um, ok, thanks I guess.  At this point she'd been in pain all afternoon and I'd had enough.  I called Dr. J to tell him I was taking her in.  "Ok," he told me, "I'm on my way out the door and I'll watch the kids when you go."  At this point she screamed and did a giant poop  I took her upstairs to change her diaper.  I wasn't looking forward to it because a diaper change earlier had led to a screaming fit.   This change was met with the same.  As I went to put diaper cream on her, my finger brushed up against a hard edge at her anus.  What the heck, I wondered.  Then  Dr. J walked in.  I told him what I had felt.  He gave her a cursory exam and then opened her diaper.  "There is something definitely coming out," he said.  He gave it a couple little tugs while I stood around cringing and was rewarded with a plastic sticker star.  Instantly we had a happy baby daughter.  She started rolling around and trying to crawl on everything.  She was tear and pain free.  "Well I think we found the problem," Dr. J announced.  No kidding Sherlock :)

We talked to the kids about how we need to keep the floors cleaner.  I'm sure it will last a day.  Definitely not looking forward to what she chooses to eat next.