6 – Hours spent at the Children’s Hospital emergency room

24 – Number of examining rooms, most filled with screaming children at some point

3 – Doctors that examined Mira

2 – Band-aids covering two punctures

1,000,000 – Germs that were probably floating through that place, making me keep a blanket over Mira while in the hallway

9 – Number of times I retold Mira’s list of symptoms to some medical professional walking into the room

5 – Number of times I told someone, “It’s a girl – don’t let the blue blanket fool you”

1 – Crazy volunteer woman who came in to keep me company, telling me why French men make great lovers and how unfair it is that the Mexicans aren’t forced to learn English when all the other immigrants were in the past

1 – IV port, urinary catheter, and lumbar puncture on Mira

The results? She has a cold.

It seems Mira has picked up the respiratory infection that Cordy is recovering from. I noticed yesterday that she was a little congested, so I took her to the doctor today when she seemed to have a low fever. Turns out she did have a fever, but since she is under two months old, the pediatrician insisted we go to the hospital for a sepsis workup to make sure everything was OK. It’s routine for any baby under two months.

I grudgingly agreed and took her to the hospital, where they put an IV port into her little hand to take blood and then give her fluids. After that, they inserted a catheter to get a urine sample. And finally they did a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) to check for meningitis. I protested the lumbar puncture, and so they brought in another doctor to convince me it was necessary. I probably wouldn’t have been so worried had I not heard the attending doctor instructing the resident on how to do a lumbar puncture. Nothing like being the first, right?

Poor Mira did amazingly well through all of it. She fought the lumbar puncture with all the strength she had, and cried a lot for the other procedures. But once they were done, she drifted back to sleep. The doctors kept saying what a good baby she was – I told them that’s how I knew she was sick. If it’s daytime and she’s not crying, there’s clearly something wrong.

In the end, it was ruled a simple viral respiratory infection. Infant Tylenol, rest, and lots of breastmilk and she should be fine. I was pretty sure that’s what it was to begin with, but they insisted on all of these tests to make sure. And being a mom, I was worried about her and so I went along with all of it. Seeing your child choking and gagging from post-nasal drip is scary.

Now I just hope this tiny, angry baby will forgive us for putting her through all of that to diagnose a common cold. And I hope she’ll get well soon.