Parenting Induced Stress

Stress comes in many forms, but one could argue that none is more intense than that brought on by parenting and the real and imagined worries engendered by it.

As noted in an earlier post, The Great Bridge Episode of 2011 (TGBE11) was uncomfortable for me, but created Exodus levels of stress regarding how it could impact my child, especially in a case of potential emergency. We couldn't just walk off the property; and even if we could, quickly getting to a hospital was nearly impossible during TGBE11.

This week has opened my eyes to similar stress arising out of possible illness.

You see, my child rarely gets sick, but is allergy prone, as are both me and Dear Husband (DH); but while I and DH can take medication to deal with the symptoms, my child's doctor had prohibited her taking them due to her young age.

Well, this week, she had teary eyes, running nose, drooling, occasional coughing and what I thought were weird bites. We kept talking to her doctor every day and he said she was okay and simply teething and had regular allergies, and that all of the symptoms arose from those two things. Then at night, when we called night after night with different symptoms, he'd talk us through each one and again say she wasn't communicable, she wasn't sick and that it was just allergies and teething loop back to the beginning.

Then, last night, she was up (as were DH and me) all night for the third night in a row, moaning and screaming in fear and pain. It was scary.

We brought her into his office this morning. Turns out those big bites, they're hives; her seasonal allergies are that intense. She also has a horrible ear infection. Oh, and she is indeed teething. All three things together are the perfect storm of hideous symptoms, impossibility of sleep and "general malaise." Within 30 minutes of taking the prescribed Claritin, her hives began to subside and her teary eyes began to close in comfort. Hopefully the antibiotic will help the ear infection soon as well.

Parenting is hard, and intense, and scary, and immensely rewarding all at the same time. It consumes one's energy as much as one's heart and soul. So while I continue to work out, I also acknowledge that life is larger than just one piece like exergaming, and we all try to piece things together as best we can.