O baby

Mother's Day Part 2 - The HospitalizationGoing backwards now>Mother's Day - We're driving back from West Linn, Oregon at 9PM and expecting Orion to fall blissfully asleep and stay that way until morning. Trish is scheduled to do massages. I'm scheduled to sub at a school. Orion is scheduled to go to day care and play with his friends.He wakes up coughing. He starts whining and crying and coughing. There's construction that channels I-5 down to one Northbound lane. It adds almost an hour to the trip it seems.When we arrive home we figure that he'll be able to rest. He'll get some medicine. He'll get the vaporizer. We'll get to sleep.Instead he keeps coughing and crying. I doze off. Trish goes into hyper-mom mode. She steams him in the bathroom with the shower running. She gives him an albuterol breathing treatment with his nebulizer. She asks ME to call the doctor.I never like to call the doctor. Plus, when I've dozed off I'm not up to speed on the situation, but I offer to hold him, and he seems to calm down. The doctor recommends another treatment, and if he's not better in a half an hour BRING HIM TO THE HOSPITAL.After about 20 minutes she's convinced that it's not normal and we should go. I don't jump up enthusiastically, and it starts to develop into a tense situation. She's worried. I'm grumpy. Orion's breathing hard. We go to the Emergency Room at 2AM.I let her tell the sequence of events to the dozen staff members who trade off listening to his lungs and her telling the sequence of events. There are three factors that keep coming up, and I'm responsible for the majority of them.1) Oma's house has a cat & other stuffy mysterious dusts & molds (probably)2) Jusby convinced everyone to clean out and use the Weber BBQ for the first time in years, hence exposure to charcoal smoke and burning cow flesh3) Jusby let Orion eat a piece of American cheese straight out of its plastic envelopeI work really hard not to accept that I may have contributed to a negative situation, but I also hear the doctors talk about the possibility of a virus, and I know I didn't have anything to do with that... unless it was something I picked up as a sub. Which seems like another convenient way to beat myself up for being a bad dad who can't get a real job somewhere that's virus free.By 6AM he's been drugged to sleep admitted for a long stay. I have to get home and cancel our appointments. I leave a message at Trish's work. I log on and cancel my sub job. Then I go to sleep. Without notifying Orion's day care. Oops.Orion has an elevated crib with adjustable metal sides. It's just barely big enough for Trish to lay in with him.Around noonish I'm heading back to the hospital with a whole mess of supplies, and I've put on my red nose, green scrubs, and white lab coat - with my old St. Pete's ID badge. I've got a horn in the pocket that I squeeze periodically. In a rolling backpack I'm hauling a CD player, food & drink, clothes, books, and toys... with two pillows strapped on top.He was hospitalized once before. This time is worse because his will and muscles are stronger. When he doesn't want to submit to a course of treatment it now takes multiple adults to force him. Luckily, Mom's will is stronger now too. After two unsuccessful attempts to get an IV in his vein she talks the staff out of it.The ongoing struggle is keeping the oxygen tube up his nose and the monitor on his finger or toe. The hospital now has optional premium channels and internet for $8/day. Or you get about 8 channels total. However, they do have a fancy VHS & TV cart they will wheel in. It also has Playstation (or something. we never did get around to playing it). Orion will begin his glut of TV now.By 5PM we get the drift that we're not being discharged yet, though no doctor has officially confirmed that. Trish is getting the drift that she won't be leaving town on Wednesday either. Her plan was to go up to Sol Duc hot springs and give massages for three days. My plan had been to do more freelancing with Sube for $20/hr.That night I get to go home again. To let the dog out and stuff.In the morning I return with my blue scrubs, hawaiian print shirt, flip flops and lab coat. I guess I'm just trying to normalize the appearance of all the doctors for Orion.We get a visit from Rainshine on his lunch break. Trish is out doing errands, and Orion has just started a nap, so it's a great connecting time for me and Rainshine. He leaves us with a pop-up circus book.The doctor tells us that we've got to stay another night. I leave right as Radio 8-Ball is concluding, but I call in for the last question: "Will my son get to come home tomorrow?" The answer sounds very positive.