In Sickness and In Health

Mimi caught a little cold today. Yesterday she kept on saying she was really tired and this morning she slept until 11:30 am and woke up crying because her nose a little clogged up and her throat hurts. Annie just took her to the clinic and the doctor said Mimi is fine and just needs rest and fluids. Mimi cried a lot when she saw the doctor…poor baby. It wasn’t a really scared crying but just one of those in which she knows she has to go see the doctor but won’t like it. She still knew her manners and said bye-bye to the doctor when leaving all the while crying out loud.

I think one of the hardest things for me, being a first time parent, is when your child is sick. Mimi, thank god, is a relatively healthy child. There were only a couple times in her life in which she got really sick. The first time was in Singapore when she got the Roseola virus (baby measles). That was really strange one, her fever spiked to about 102 degrees however she acted perfectly healthy. She was still eating and drinking milk and playing like normal. The fever took about 2 days to break and when over she got these splotches over her face and body.

The second was just this year February in Taipei during the winter. Mimi got a really high fever of 104 and it took 3 days for it to break. The big problem was that Mimi hates drinking medicine and it took a lot of coxing in order for her to swallow it. That time I barely got any sleep the 2 nights, constantly worrying and checking to make sure her fever doesn’t run too high. Mimi cried a lot, was unhappy and uncomfortable, and cried big time when seeing the doctor. I don’t really understand why Mimi is scared of doctors so much, she loves playing doctor, pretend giving and taking shots, and feeding me and Annie our vitamin pills.

In the end, everything turned out ok. These are just one of those things we all need to go through when raising a child. I still worried a lot when Mimi gets sick even though I know that it will be ok. It’s that helpless feeling you get when you see your child suffering and there is very little you can do but wait. The only good aspect is that getting sick is just a natural part of building up the body’s immune system.