That helpless feeling we all hate...

Henry (23 months old) woke up 3 times last night screaming with pain. He was crying and clearly not well this morning. Add to that the fact that he was clutching his ears.

I had that nervous and helpless feeling that all parents with young kids hate. It's that feeling in the pit of your stomach, the feeling that you are not sure what is wrong with your child and he can't tell you what's the problem is. Even worse, your child is relying on you to make him better, and on you to solve the issue. Worse than that, you have no clue how to help him.

In our situation Thursday morning, we made a decision to take Henry to Urgent Care.

Marisa had to work today, so I was the lucky one sitting with a sick Henry in Urgent Care, hoping to get seen before Henry threw a complete tantrum.

Keeping my "strong willed child" quiet in a waiting room is always a challenge, but it was tougher than ever today, since he was not feeling well, and there were no kids toys in the waiting room sp we had to improvize.

We started off fine, by him having some cheerios and milk, sitting quietly with me. Henry ate and occasionally reminded me that I have coffee in my hand "Daddy, coffee". Once breakfast was done, it was not so easy keeping Henry quiet. I ended up letting him play with my cellphone and watch, never a wise choice really.

The real troubles came when we were there for 25 minutes and he started heading for the door saying "home, Mum, Home," and acting like he was no longer sick.

At that point, luckily, the nurse called us in.

This is another horrible feeling. When visiting the Doctor with my children, I feel like I am picking my poison. You never want your child to be ill, but having spent half an hour already in the waiting room, and knowing I was missing work, I could not help but let myself think, "There had bloody better be something wrong with him to make this trip worth it." We had spent so much time here, the thought ran through my head that if Henry was not ill, this was a waste, when in fact it was the opposite. Ruling out illness is the best reason to go to the Doctor.

But, if you bring in a child, then the doctor looks at him and says he is fine, then you feel like a paranoid parent who just brought the kid in for no reason. In this situation, I find myself wondering if the Doctors watch you on the way out to make sure you don't steel any drugs just to make sure you are here for the right reasons.

At the same time, you don't want your child to be too sick or to suffer too much. I was thinking that maybe a mild ear infection would be ok, but not be too bad for Henry. I don't want him to have the flu, but a small infection would be acceptable.

My prayers were answered when I was told Henry had an infection in both ears. I thought, "Ok, this is a little worse than I had hoped, but he seems to be alright."

Henry and I walked triumphantly out of the Clinic. I was confidently holding Henry's antibiotic prescription, while Henry was the real winner. He had a sticker in 1 hand and a lollipop in the other. We were both happy with the fruits of our morning's work.