Urinary Tract Infection?

JF is now taking a nap, so maybe I can complain about yesterday morning.

This story started at Christmastime. For one reason or another, we were unable to visit with my entire family at Christmastime, so Sister1 and Brother2 both sent me e-mail messages the next week saying that they had gifts for JF.

A week ago, I finally managed to schedule a day when both Sister1 and Brother2 could come visit, so they could give JF his Christmas gifts. Then I opened up the invitation to the rest of my family, if they could make it. I look forward to these family gatherings, and even enjoy hosting them, in spite of my social anxiety (and my issues with Brother1).

The scheduled day was yesterday, and I told everyone to arrive noonish.

As you may know from previous posts, JF had a fever from Monday evening until Thursday morning. We were relieved that he got better before the planned weekend get-together. (Insert ominous music here.)

When I woke up yesterday (at 5:00 AM!), I made a to-do list to prepare for the family gathering. The plan was that I would watch JF, do laundry, and declutter the house while AF buys groceries, take-out food for the big lunch, and a housewarming gift card for Brother2, who had just bought a new house. That was the plan.

Now this may seem like a change of subject, a subject that is dear to my heart right now, but bear with me: The moment JF woke up yesterday morning, he said, "More sit on the potty?" Of course, I ushered him to the potty and provided assistance where required. His night-time diaper was wet, as usual. (Yes, he was wearing a diaper, but that was because he just woke up. We're not worrying yet about night-time dryness.) He sat on the potty, pointed down, and ... cried. It was a loud, high-pitched cry, as if he were in pain.

My first theory was that his bladder had already been emptied into the diaper, and he was crying because he couldn't pee and therefore wouldn't get an M&M. I told him, "That's okay. Maybe next time. Let's brush your teeth." Distraction is the invention of motherhood.

After breakfast, AF took JF to the potty again. Again he cried, as if in pain, and didn't pee. We started to worry. A little later, JF started crying out of the blue in the living room. By 9:00 AM, we decided to call the doctor.

To complicate matters, JF's pediatrician is Dr. Strahlman in Columbia, MD, which is about an hour drive away. (We had originally had a pediatrician closer to home, in Rockville. But they had dragged their feet about JF's monthly fevers, so AF asked his siblings for a recommendation. The result was Dr. Strahlman in Columbia. We like him better, so we put up with the hour-long drive.)

AF called the doctor and made an appointment for 10:30 AM. (Another reason we like this pediatrician is their Saturday hours.) I volunteered to take JF to the doctor and AF volunteered to do everything else. (One of many reasons why I love him.)

Just before we left the house, we tried putting the boy on the potty one more time. He peed without any problem. Huh? No crying in pain this time? No. Just the usual squirt into the potty and "More M?"

We didn't know what to think. We decided to go ahead and take him to the doctor, because the doctor's office is closed on Sunday. We'd rather waste a Saturday morning and a $15 copay today, than have to waste part of Sunday and a $75 copay at the ER.

We packed changes of clothes, small toys, and his medication log into JF's diaper bag. We packed sandwiches & other stuff for both of us into a lunchbox. I grabbed the diaper bag, the lunchbox, and my purse (with my cell phone in it), proud of myself for remembering everything. JF and I were off.

JF fell asleep 20 minutes into the trip. That is unusual for him. He usually doesn't nap until after noon, but I figured that he's still tired from the recent fever.

When we arrived at the doctor's office, I grabbed my wallet from my purse, some cheese-cracker fishies and water from the lunch box, and dumped them into the diaper bag. I didn't want to have to haul everything into the doctor's office, and I figured that's all I'd need. (More ominous music.)

JF hugged the lady in line behind us. He's been doing that a lot lately. I said, "I hope you don't mind." She didn't. I need to ask his PEP teacher about this.

The doctor (not Stahlman, but another doctor in the practice) listened to JF's lungs & heart and looked in his ears & throat, and said that as far as he can tell, JF just has a cold. He asked for a pee sample. At first the nurse gave me a pee cup and started to give me instructions. I told her that he's only recently potty-trained (which is an over-simplification, because I don't think he's fully trained, yet) . I told her I wasn't sure I would be able to get him to pee into a cup. So she put a bag on him. I think these things are the greatest invention for capturing a child's pee.

So then, we just waited. And waited. And waited. I tried putting him on the potty, and telling him to point down. I tried letting him play with warm water at the sink. I tried offering him his sippy cup of water often. The only thing I didn't try was to put a diaper on him. Maybe that would have worked, but I was so intent on following the potty-training rules that I didn't consider it.

Throughout, JF was happy, cute, and playful. He didn't repeat that mysterious pain-cry for the doctor's benefit. (Of course.)

We waited from 10:30, his appointment time, until noon. All this time, I was worried about what was going on at home. I had left my cell phone in my purse in the car, so I asked to use the office phone. I called AF and told him that we're waiting for JF to pee.

Then the doctor told us to go home. I wanted to cry.

I know this experience is nothing compared to what other mothers have to deal with. It's good that the doctor didn't find anything. It's good that JF was happy during that doctor visit. Maybe I'm being oversensitive and selfish. But it just seemed so pointless, that we spent all of this time away from home, for nothing. I kept reminding myself that everything happens for a good reason, even if I don't know what it is.

The nurse gave me the pee cup, an alcohol wipe, a baggie, and instructions to have JF pee into the cup first thing Monday morning and save the cup in the fridge until someone can bring it back to the doctor's office.

We left the doctor's office at about 1:30 PM and came home at about 2:30 PM. And JF still had dry pants!

My living room was crowded: Dad, Brother1 & his son, Sister1, Sister 2 and her daughter, Brother2, and AF. (By the way, how do you distinguish between the family you grew up with [parents & siblings] and the family you are raising yourself [spouse & children]? In both cases, I want to say "my family" but it doesn't convey which one I mean.)

JF hugged everybody. He gave Brother1 a running leap hug, which annoyed the heck out of me. (Can't he see this uncle is a jerk?)

Then AF took him to the bathroom. When they came back to the living room, AF announced that JF had peed on the potty, and everyone cheered and clapped.

JF's late Christmas loot:

• Dad gave him a Sesame Street magnetic drawing board.
• Brother1 gave him a Curious George book/CD set.
• Sister1 gave him a "plasma car" which is apparently like a go-cart, except you make it go by wiggling the steering wheel.
• Sister2 gave him several musical toys and a pack of little books (like Stone Soup).
• Brother2 gave him a new Dr. Seuss book (Sneetches) and a matching stuffed animal. (I need to figure out how to tell Brother2 that stuffed animals are not good for allergies and JF doesn't play with them anyway.)

I figure this is a good point to end this story, but it really hasn't ended until we collect the pee sample tomorrow morning, bring it in, and get the results back. Maybe it was nothing (I hope it was nothing), but I'm still annoyed about the whole wasted morning.