I took this picture on Wednesday as Gage was waking from a nap in his crib and I was going to write a post on the very slow transition from bassinet to  crib, but that will wait for another day since Thursday saw us head to the doctor because he had been throwing up after I changed his formula that morning.  I wasn’t worried, I just wanted to make sure he was okay since Gage does not throw up (well, only one other time at the doctor’s office).  But when we got in to see our pediatrician she was worried.  She didn’t think his getting sick had anything to do with the formula and after a test to check oxygen in his blood (?) she panicked a little and almost put him on oxygen, which would had required a trip in the squad.  But a second test showed a normal result so she told me I could just drive Gage to the ER.  Now, I’m starting to get a little worried since she didn’t even want me going back home or stopping anywhere.

Once at the Peds ER we waited almost half an hour for a room and another hour after that to see a doctor.  I’m glad they didn’t consider us a red alert emergency, but still.  After having blood drawn, an x-ray, ultrasound, and an IV with fluids we were sent home 7 hours later with the diagnosis of a stomach bug.  Gage was a trooper and I was very proud of how well he did.  He had much more patience than I did!

Then Friday I called the nurse with a question and she told me to go back to the ER.  I thought she was completely overreacting. I mean c’mon, we were just there!  She was concerned about dehydration.  I was concerned with getting Gage to eat, sleep and stop crying.  I did not take Gage to the ER.  Then a few hours later, the HEAD nurse from the doctor’s office called because she was “concerned for Gage” and thought I should take him to the ER.  I explained that he had just been there and had not been dehydrated and had even been given fluids, but she didn’t want to hear that.  She wanted me to call her back in an hour to give her an update on his eating and diaper wetting.  She was starting to get on my nerves, but I did call her back to tell her he had eaten and wet a diaper.  Should have been good news but she still wanted me to go to the ER because he was so young and even talked to another doctor in the office who thought the same (our pediatrician wasn’t there).  So, I call Jason, head back to the ER, valet the car (again) and get put back in the same room with a few of the same nurses as the day before.  And do you know what happened when the doctor checked him out less than an hour later?  Nothing.  No dehydration, Gage even smiled at the doctor, like he got the joke.  And they sent us home with an expensive bill (I’m guessing) that I plan on forwarding on to the nurse who wouldn’t quit making me feel like I was endangering my kid if I didn’t take him to the ER. 

The moral of the story is that you should always trust your mother’s instinct.  But I’m so new at this that I didn’t completely trust mine and a needless trip to the ER was had by all.  Gage is doing better and has been smiling, talking and playing with toys (such as it is).  Here’s a picture of the small bruise on his arm from the IV, his only lasting indignity of the hours in the ER.

Gage is ready for his first Super Bowl.  It comes at a good time since in the last week or so he has been watching tv with Mom and Dad and enjoying it.  It’s actually quite cute to see him studying the screen.  Now we need to start paying attention to what we watch!  As much as he likes tv I’m pretty sure he’s more excited about the commercials, especially the ones with his peers, than the game, but isn’t that at least half of the audience?! 

As for Jason and me, we’ll watch, but at this point I don’t know who I’m rooting for.  Just because I don’t like Big Ben does that mean I have to root for the Packers?  The Packers also have 4 Buckeyes on team so that has to count for something.  Okay, I’m sold, Packers it is.  But I do reserve the right to change my mind as the game progresses…

What about you?  Will you be watching the game or the commercials?  And who will you be rooting for?

So, what do all of these people have in common?

Yep, Jason and I are lonely, selfish, socially inept, and spoiled if you listen to the majority of people who repeat these stereotypes of only children as if they were facts.  I’ve never really felt offended by these misguided comments because I’ve never seen myself that way.  Was I lonely growing up?  Maybe, but because of the alone time I have a healthy imagination and know how to entertain myself.  I am never bored.  Was I socially inept growing up?  I don’t think so.  I was voted Everyone’s Best Friend and Class Flirt by my senior class, so I wasn’t a quiet wallflower.  Am I selfish?  I probably spend as much money on gifts as I do on myself and if you need something that I have I do not hesitate to give it, so I don’t think so.  Was I spoiled?  Well, it wasn’t like we had loads of money growing up, but I was spoiled with attention and love.  Is that so wrong?  Jason is also an only, but his youth was a lot different from mine.  Even so, I would never use any of these words to describe him.

So why all the judgment of the onlies?  There are a positives and negatives to being an only, just as there are to being a first born, a middle child, or the baby.  I don’t feel like I missed out by not having a sibling and I don’t understand when I hear women say they are having another child so their first child doesn’t grow up alone.  It’s like you are gifting one child to another and that seems odd to me. 

Jason and I have been blessed with a healthy baby boy and at my advanced age of 39 we’ll need to decide on whether to try for another relatively soon.  We both know the pros- more attention, higher self-esteem, more education, better grades in school and the cons- a smaller support system and the challenge of being the sole caretaker for your parents as they age.  With Jason and I both being only children we have four parents to look after in the future.  Good thing we’re a great team 🙂  Gage will never have first cousins, aunts or uncles and to rob him of siblings too is perhaps my biggest concern.

Are we doing Gage a disservice if we don’t try for more?  Absolutely not.  But it does require a different approach to parenting, one that Jason and I are completely tuned into and have a lifetime of experience with.  I found this article in TIME magazine last year about the myths of only children very interesting.

So, any other onlies out there?  Or parents of onlies?  Do you feel judged?  Was the decision to have only one an easy one?