Sunday, June 28, 2009

Nanny Diaries… Too many Kiddos + Sick Baby Itty Bitty

What a week.  What a night.

The Itty Bitties are out of control!!

Right now my schedule looks a little something like this ...

• Wednesday & Friday all day ~ Little M (3.5 years) ~ articulate, bossy, and imaginative
• Saturday nights, weeknights "as needed" ~ Baby L (4 months)  ~ fussy fussy fussy
• A few nights a month ~ Baby Blue (10 months) ~ loves to sleep, very happy little guy
• Various days/nights ~ Baby Itty Bitty (8 months) & Big Itty Bitty (6 years) ~ my little princess girls, one smiley and content, the other dramatic and smart

Had Little M yesterday, I interviewed to nail the job with Baby L last night, today I had Baby Itty Bitty, tomorrow I interview with a newborn, Monday I start with Baby L, Tuesday I interview with a pregnant Mom with a 1 year old, Tuesday night I have Baby Blue, and Wednesday and Friday, it's Little M time.

As if there wasn't enough insanity to be had, listen to the little situation I just encountered on my evening with Baby Itty Bitty...  

She was sick, poor little thing.  I told Mom I'd still watch her so she and Dad could have a nice evening out at a friend's wedding.  After all, I'm not scared of a sick little baby.  Extra snuggling and overcompensated infant-frustration preventive measures, being overly careful with meds, and making sure the blanket or the pacifier is not in the other room are all pretty easy if you think about it. Nearly a typical night with my favorite little princess.
Or at least until Baby Itty Bitty's 2-day-long fever stopped decreasing, woke her from her sleep, and decided to hit 104* - even after Tylenol and Motrin and new antibiotics (after a 10 day run of amoxicillin!)  Combine that with her ear infection, her lethargy, her family history of seizures (and me not wanting to see my first febrile seizure), and her lack of interest in fluids?  My first thought was to call the pediatrician, but of course of all times to "hide" the nanny book (containing all important information), Mom chose tonight.  No pediatrician name/number and someone else's baby girl's life in my hands?  I responsibly called Akron Children's and was almost there when Mom & Dad (who I called to meet me at the hospital and/or talk to the pediatrician) finally got ahold of the doctor.  Long story short, Baby Itty Bitty is now home, and she will be okay... she's just very miserable for now.

In my decade of childcare experience, I have never once made a trip to the Akron Children's emergency room, but tonight makes it the second time that I've come close.  Rewind just over 5 years ago when Bryce was teeny tiny.  He was playing in our family room on a Little Tykes slide and having a great time at that.  We religiously kept him away from the fireplace, but that didn't matter one bit that day.  He climbed to the top of the tiny Little Tykes slide and fell backward in a split second.  Right. Into. The. Fireplace.  Anyone familiar with young children know how the really-bad, not-faking-it cries start.  The kid gets that pain-fear look on their face, takes the biggest breath of their lifetime, and you count the seconds of the pause and think to yourself, "Here it comes, here it comes, here it comes...." until bam, WAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!  Then the crocodile tears start pouring and you know something really bad just happened. Of course I had Bryce in my arms before the wail even came out and sure enough, there was a nice-sized bleeding gash in the back of his head.  I ran him to the sink, grabbed a towel, and applied pressure while I tried to console a very upset little man.  It was really on the border of looking like a stitches-requiring cut, so I called the Ask Children's line before running out the door to the hospital.  The nurse said it was hard to even stitch a cut on the back of the head due to the tightness of the skin so unless it was really, unstoppably bleeding, it would probably be okay on its own.  Sure enough, by the time I was off the phone with the nurse, his head wasn't even bleeding anymore.  To this very day, Bryce has a scar on the back of his head marking where his first major injury occurred.

You know it was funny... on the last parent interview I did, Mom asked me a hypothetical question.  "Say my baby is crying and is totally unconsolable.  What would you do to eliminate your anger before going to her?"  I probably had the blankest look on my face.  "Honestly, I can't even think of a time crying has made me angry or even frustrated.  I have more experience with infants than older kids, so I'm just used to it I guess.  If the baby was fed, changed, and not needing a nap, I would hold her the way she likes to be held, and I would do whatever I knew worked to console her.  Each baby is so different, so you just have to do what you know that particular child likes.  If it was my first time with her, I would try various things until I saw what worked, or I would go by Mom telling me how she likes to be held and things like that."  Now that was an award-winning response, my friends.  Completely true of course, but I think I told her exactly what she wanted to hear, and at that moment I knew I'd probably land the job.

So yes, I'm calm, cool, and collected.  Emergencies don't frighten me, and crying doesn't get on my nerves.  No infant, kid, or parent can scare me.  I have my act together just like Mary Poppins.  Sure, I'm tired and a little too attached, but I also happen to be a baby whisperer, a calm and consistent discipline maven and a friend to all kiddos, all while being skilled with obnoxious obese golden retrievers and cats who can't take hints.  

Beat that, Super Nanny.