We are the Proud Parents of a Barking Seal…

We (Mom and Dad) have been in fear of the day that our son gets sick for the first time. Not that we don’t expect it as all kids get sick, it’s just that we are new parents and I (Dad) know that we are going to freak out the first time, didn’t you?

We’ll I get a call from Mom on Friday (April 11th) stating that Jesse is making strange breathing sounds and has a bad cough. So I meet them at the Doctors office and sure as s41t, Jesse is not exuding any symptoms. Just like work, someone calls me with a computer problem, I visit the client, the symptom strangely disappears. The doctor examines him, finds his breathing normal, but discovers his throat looks red and diagnoses him with the “possibility of croup.” What is strange is the croup usually doesn’t make itself present until around the first year of age. Here is the definition of croup:

Croup has an unmistakable sound — a harsh, repetitive cough similar to the noise of a seal barking. Attacks of croup often jar children awake and leave them frightened and gasping for breath. Croup can be scary for parents, too, but it’s usually not serious. At its worst, croup can be treated in the doctor’s office most of the time.

Okay, Mom and Dad are now the proud parents of a barking seal. So they give Jesse medicine and all is well, yet they forgot the lollipop!!!

Today, April 15th, Jesse has his regular doctors appointment. Last time he got his first round of Vaccinations, which I believed changed his personality a bit. Trust me Justine and I are not anti-vaccine extremists but, we both came to the same conclusion that:

A. We need to be well informed parents when it comes to what doctors are injecting into our child.

B. We require the ingredients of each one of these cocktails.

C. We require a doctor to be baby friendly, meaning we want the flexibility to allow for vaccinations to be administered over a longer period of time. Something about giving a baby 6 shots, in which one shot combines 3 vaccines, all at one time seems harsh to me. Plus how have we gone from requiring 9 immunizations in the early 80’s to over 32 immunizations today? (Source: OC Register). We would be interested in your opinion if you would like to use the comment section on this page.

Anywho… here is Jesse’s health report sent to me by email from Mom:

So your son is exactly 15 lbs, 25.5 inches long, and is in the 50th percentile for weight and head circumference, and 75th-90th percentile for length. She said he is big and extremely healthy, and very far ahead on both verbal and motor skills- somewhere around 6-7 months. And she agreed to a slower vaccination schedule. We’ll go back in 2 or 3 weeks for his first shot of the next round, since he is still sick and she recommended no vaccinations for at least 2 weeks. She also said it is ok to start giving him very small amounts (like a tablespoon or two a day) of rice cereal, so he tried some today. Used the spoon by himself- didn’t like the cereal much though.

Looks like all is well, Mom and Dad survived our first sick scare. But I’m not so sure it hasn’t prepared us for round 2…

Just thought I would boast about share with you Jesse’s health checkup and development.

-Dad