My doctor just blew me off (argh!)

[macassi]

Let me preface this by saying that I am not a high-maintenance doctor's patient. I don't think I've ever taken my child to the doctor without said child having an actual respiratory or ear infection, except for one time when my oldest claimed he couldn't hear... I don't typically call with questions.

So, yesterday my baby had her 4 month check up. She also has a cold, and the doctor told me she was wheezing a bit...

... a little more background. DS#2 has asthma. At 4 months (age of DD) he got RSV and was hospitalized for a week. It started out as a cold/wheezing, so I could be a bit more worried about DD wheezing than the average parent, BUT I am also quite versed in wheezing at this point. I also know my doctor pretty well, even though I am not high maitenance, because (1) I have 3 kids and a lot of healthy baby checkups, and (2) I've seen her a lot of the years with DS #2s asthma.

Anyway, last night DD slept for 10 hours straight. She usually wakes up 2-3 times to eat. She has been sleeping most the day. When she is awake, she is more wheezy than she was yesterday and coughing (another sign of wheezing). Heading into the weekend, I was a bit worried about her condition, so I decided to check in with the doctor to find out
-- when is it too much for a baby to sleep?
-- when do you consider a baby not eating enough? loss of appetite?
-- can I up her dosage of albuterol to help the increased wheezing?

Doctor finally called back and said give it the weekend, wake her if she sleeps more than 15 hours, and check in on Monday. Typing it up makes it seems like she answered my questions, but I really still don't know when I should begin to worry about too much sleeping/not enough eating. I don't feel like giving it to Monday answers my concerns about her getting worse. I really wanted advice as far as, if this happens, do this -- e.g. at what point I might want to visit urgent care over the weekend vs. just waiting until Monday. I'm sure I can use my own judgment, but it really bugged me that I didn't get any answers and she spoke to me for less than 30 seconds.

To top it off, Abbie has been crying for the last hour and NOW I'm worried that she's got an ear infection. I guess I'll see how much sleep we get tonight. I don't really want to go in tomorrow for Saturday hours when I've been told to wait until Monday, but if she keeps crying all night, I am going to have her ears checked.

I guess I just thought I'd have this sick child thing all figured out by baby #3, but it doesn't seem any clearer or easier. Sigh.

[nohomama]

Marci,

Abbie sounds sick to me. If she were mine, I'd take her if for office hours tomorrow despite what the doctor said. You know your kid best. Trust your gut -or- if you're on the fence, act conservatively. It'd stink to be stuck having to go to an urgent care center on Sunday or waiting things out until Monday.

[starrynight]

Trust your gut mom! Docs have brushed me off too and I'm far from high maitenance! I push when I feel there is really something wrong but otherwise I don't bring them in, I don't think the office likes how pushy I can be LOL.

[ddmarsh]

My DD was hospitalized last winter with RSV when she was a newborn and I know how you feel - I jump at every slight sniffle worrying if it might happen again. I would point this out to your doctor - that your child had RSV and you are understandably quite cautious and in addition that you are not a first-time mom but an experienced one who is simply trying to play it safe. Grrr, I can't believe how they can act sometimes.

[Melanie]

You are the expert on your children...trust yourself.

[macassi]

Thanks for the support. We made it through the weekend. She is relatively happy, but still very congested in her chest. I will probably bring her in tomorrow to have her chest/lungs checked out. It isn't getting worse, but it doesn't seem to be getting better either, IYKWIM. She's having a hard time eating, because she's so congested.

[macassi]

Another update, and to everyone who said trust your intuition, you were right of course!!

Last night, Abbie was up 5-6 times during the night. She looked healthy this morning, but sounded just horrible. Lots of congestion and wheezing. I made an appointment and brought her in. The doctor agreed that she sounded horrible. In fact, she said that if Abbie didn't look so healthy, she'd suspect pneumonia. Ugh. She also has a double ear infection. We were sent home with antibiotics and more breathing medicine and instructions to come home if she begins to look any worse -- and to have limited flexibility in the "looking worse" definition.

She did say that she didn't think the ear infections were around for the whole weekend, but I'm really glad that I brought her in today even though DH and I kept saying that she looked healthy and just sounded horrible. It's amazing that she could be pink, smiling, and flirting with us while sounding so bad and having ear infections.