The Roanoker-November/December 2021 - 14

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Pediatrician Season
written by Christy Rippel The doctor will see you now.
Hoverboard: 1
Amelia: 0
shepherd four
children through
the baby and snotfilled
toddler and
preschool years
without finding
yourself in that
waiting room over
and over again once
that first fall chill
arrives.
Familiar to
parents everywhere,
pediatrician season
is the achingly long
stretch of months
from October to
April when your
child 's doctor's
office could double
as a second home.
When my daughter
arrived on the scene,
I
took my sons Liam and Preston to
the pediatrician recently, for a routine
check-up. Of course, nothing about
seeing the doctor is routine now.
You're checked in from your car, over
the phone, and you stand in the waiting room
once you are allowed in the building. The usual
distractions, like cups of broken crayons at the
tiny tables and seen-better-days toys have been
hidden away (COVID!), but my boys are in
middle and high school now. Those things
stopped being interesting long ago.
A harried looking mom, face free of
make-up, hair piled in a messy bun, probably
fantasizing about a shower, was already in the
waiting room when we arrived. She had an
infant in a car seat and a toddler son, who was
determined to sit in the chairs, which were
blocked off with painter's tape. She cooed and
coerced, with her bag of gummy snacks and
tiny matchbox cars. I watched, feeling both
solidarity and a strange distance from her, two
moms on opposite ends of raising children.
I'm an infrequent visitor to the pediatrician
now, but oh, I remember. You cannot
she turned things up a notch. Unlike her older
brothers, every sniffle seemed to turn into a
thick, wet cough-the kind of croupy mess that
landed us there more times than I could count.
As I watched my waiting room partner
herd her son towards the nurse as their name
was called, I remembered one particular fall
visit, when I herded Liam and Preston with a
double stroller to the exam room, with a very
sick Amelia on my hip.
That day my boys, as always, spun maniacally
on the doctor's circular stool, and shoved all
the snacks into their mouths that I could
throw at them, half of the snacks falling to the
floor. I recall looking at the smashed goldfish,
wondering if I could summon the energy to
bend down and pick them up. It was me who
was harried that day, exhausted after being up
all night with a sick baby.
When the doctor saw Amelia that October,
she was concerned about RSV. Amelia's oxygen
levels weren't great, and she needed a breathing
treatment. The doctor told me that RSV could
require hospitalization in a baby as young as
mine, but she was hopeful that she could treat
CHRISTY RIPPEL is an award-winning freelance writer, covering lifestyle, design, health and parenting. A VT graduate, she likes to bike and walk local trails. When she and husband Chris
aren't watching the Hokies, they watch their four kids compete in sports. Christy is a Maryland native and lives in Roanoke County.
14 November/December 2021
TheRoanoker.com
her in the office and with medication at home.
We never saw the inside of the hospital
that day, but it happened later. Amelia was
diagnosed with asthma at four, and we've spent
the night in the hospital for asthma attacks.
Her brothers have had bloody gashes, broken
bones and one nearly lost eye to an accident.
Amelia added her own broken arm to the
tally last fall, with an unfortunate fall off of
a hoverboard.
Before kids, I got weak in the knees if I saw
a drop of blood, but I barely wince anymore.
Though the first few medical traumas threw
me into a complete panic, the years have
excavated a tougher me, a woman who can
keep a clear head when faced with a bloody
limb or a wheezing child. I've learned to lock
those wobbly knees back and buck up, because
my kids look to me to determine whether they
should panic. The day your first child is born
you are officially " in charge " even though
sometimes you want to cry out for your own
mom. And as soon as you are comfortable in
your role, the game changes. They get older, the
challenges are fresh.
At least now, I can face those challenges
freshly showered. I
Her doctor
pointed out the
small break,
which healed
quickly (young
bones!).

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