Why did no one mention that?

There are many things people give you advice on when you are pregnant or have a child. But sometimes they either leave out things or their ideas are thought as it will not happen to me. I have been a parent for a little over 19 months now and have come across many instances of this.

When you are pregnant your doctor discusses everything that can go wrong with your pregnancy. You are also told about difficulties that may arise when you deliver like a C-section. But what happens after you deliver everyone talks about the baby staying in your room and people mention should you use that as a break by letting the baby stay in the nursery at night. When my daughter was born she had an infection so I didn’t have that choice. She ended up being in the special care unit the entire stay and was supposed to stay even longer.

As a parent especially a new parent that is one of the scariest events. Here you are supposed to be excited about your new bundle of joy and you are but now they are whisked away and you don’t get the experience that you expected. I think it is important that people know this can happen as well as the things doctors tell you. I was lucky and my daughter got to leave with me the day I exited the hospital. But the terms were I had a home nurse and my daughter saw her regular doctor 2 times that week until they were sure she was better.

One other thing that no one mentioned to me was about picking a pediatrician. As I was pregnant I knew it was important that my daughter have a doctor at some point. However, not one person mentioned picking the doctor until I was in labor. If you are pregnant I recommend picking your pediatrician then. You can interview different doctors and ask your friends for recommendations. In case something happen when your baby is born it is good to have the pediatrician so you know who will handle your baby and that they agree with your choices. For example if you want your baby on a specific shot schedule not all doctors do that. This way you are prepared when your baby enters the world.

Something I thought was hilarious as a parent was the fact that you will think about the contents of your child’s diaper from the moment you leave the hospital. The hospital gives you a chart to count the times they go. Your baby’s doctor will ask you about it every time they see you. On top of that when you are home chances are you will wonder as they are young is it normal. When they are toddlers at some point all those stories you hear of the toddler taking off the diaper and you walking into a mess will be your reality. If you have a situation where you don’t know if it is normal you can always call the pediatricians office. Believe me they get calls like this all the time. My friends have even called me up as their children were born and asked about it.

When my daughter was 17 months she got sick as children do but then she had what is referred to as a fever seizure (febrile seizure). Now I had heard of these long before my daughter was born but I never realized that they happen a lot. About 1 in every 25 children will have a fever seizure and some will have more than one. In my daughters case she has had only one and it was even scarier than when she was born sick. She seized for a few minutes then turned blue and actually quit breathing after. My fiancé had to do CPR as I talked to 911. By the time we got to the hospital her fever was 104.6. It took me a while to sleep normal after that especially considering hers happened in the middle of the night and I just by chance was up at the time. I think every parent should know what a fever seizure is and that it does not mean your child will have epilepsy. It is very important when children are little to control their fevers a febrile seizure is just one of the things that could happen.

As new parents especially we are bombarded with so much new information it is hard for people to cover everything. There are many more things that will be new to you because the truth is that every child is different so they can’t tell you to expect certain things. As parents we grow as much as our children do. So, if a friend calls you or emails you after they’ve become a new parent to say is this normal you won’t be surprised.

You can find more information of Febrile seizures from your child’s pediatrician and this site has some information if you have a basic question http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000980.htm.