Protective Paranoia
Even with Emma as our first baby I was laid back and not much of a worrier. I don't know if it's that I was too young to know to be worried or if I was just really relaxed because I read about a million books while pregnant with her, and just thought I knew it all. Either way, nothing with her really bothered me. I've never been the one on a first name basis with my pediatrician or the office staff and you'd think we would know each other considering I am in there a minimum of 6 times a year with well baby checks alone. The fact is though, I really am not one of "those" parents that freaks out about every cough and sniffle. I once had a friend who was drama through and through! I don't know how many times she told me that she was waiting for a call back from the pediatrician. I would smile and nod while thinking "oh, that poor, poor man". Actually, one time I mentioned that I knew her and the pediatrician looked sweetly over his glasses and said "wow, it's amazing how two women with totally different parenting styles could be friends like you are." I personally took that as a compliment just knowing about all the drama this person brought with her into any situation including her mothering.

It's not even like we haven't had our fair share of unforeseen circumstances either. No, we've had a broken femur that resulted in a full body cast on a two year old. We've had three broken arms, one ripped open scrotum, countless black eyes, heart murmurs, severe asthma from 2 weeks old, presumed cystic fibrosis that thankfully after many months of testing was determined to be negative, crossed eyes, speech disorder, drug addictions....Oh, how I could go on! The point is, it just didn't bother me! I rolled with it and got frustrated at times but I was not a paranoid fool about the things that have been thrown our way. It was what it was period!

Although that was my old parenting style I have to admit that my new one is more of a protective psychotic style. I fully admit that how I am parenting Tait is a bit more "helicopterish" than how I parented the other six. Seriously, I just don't know why but I am a freak about every little thing with him. Our pediatrician just received their shipment of the H1N1 vaccine and guess who they administered the first shot to? Yep, you guessed it, Tait! I got the email this morning at 7:34 and had an appointment at 8:30 where he got his shot. When I entered through the front door I played off the fact that they now call me by name by telling myself it's only because my baby is so cute how would they forget him? The crazy thing is that I haven't realized how freakish I've been until today when I was feeling uncomfortable that the plant at the desk in the pediatricians lobby seemed to be a bit droopy. I started to freak out about if they can't keep the plant healthy, than what risk is my poor baby at? Oh dear and did the nurse cough? I think she might have. However, the big sign to me that I might just need to chill out a bit is when I got this response from the nurse after asking "now, do you have staff that takes care of the well babies and then staff that only deals with the sick kids? because what risk is that for all these kids who are only coming in for flu shots to have been in contact with germs from your clothes and other stuff that has been in contact with the sick kids. Oh that brings up a thought about the rooms do you separate the sick rooms from the well rooms or are they intermixed too?...." I'm not sure how long I rambled but I just know that once I started to come up for air she smirked at me and said "Mom, don't you have six kids that go to school everyday?" Oh dear!

All I can say is that my new focus is going to be to loosen up a bit, I've gotten quite protective in my old age!