Dr. Mom…

May 12, 2014 by Ask Doc Barb 1 Comment

Since it’s Mother’s Day today, I thought I’d share something it took me years to learn…

You may have heard that as a Mother you take on many roles.  You are a homemaker, housekeeper, chef, chauffeur, referee, and teacher.  But did you realize you are also your child’s first doctor???  I’m not only talking about treating a skinned knee with some disinfectant and a bandage, it goes much beyond that.  As a mom, you have a special instinct or as it’s sometimes called “Mother’s Intuition” when it comes to your children.  I dont’ know how many times I just knew something was wrong with my child, even before the doctors did.

Let me give you an example of something that happened when my daughter (now, 17), was 2 years old.  My friend had an errand to run, and left her two children here to play with my 2 year old daughter and 6 year old son.  Her daughter was 3 and son was 7.  They were all playing in my daughter’s room.  I was always an over-protective mother, and the room was about as  “child-proofed” as you could get.  I still was keeping my eye on the four of them, but had run in to the kitchen for just a minute to get some snacks.

While the kids had their snacks, I nursed my daughter (yes…she was 2 and still nursing, but that’s another story LOL).  As soon as she started to nurse I knew something wasn’t right.  The look on her face, the way she was swallowing, my “Mom-Radar” went off like crazy.  I sat her up and looked in her mouth and throat and saw nothing.  I tried again.  She wasn’t talking in full sentences yet, so she couldn’t tell me what was wrong or what had happened, but she would half cry when I tried to nurse her.

I asked the other kids if they saw anything happen to her, or if they saw what she was doing when I went in the other room.  Apparently she somehow got a hold of some change.  She was laying on her back on the floor and playing with it, holding it up in front of her face.  I got that instant Ah ha! moment.  She must have swallowed a coin.

I packed up all the kids and rushed to the ER.  They examined her, and looked down her throat.  They told me if she did swallow a coin it would pass, and not to worry about it.  This was one of those rare times I actually listened to my intuition and not the doctors.  I insisted something was not right.  I told them I just knew there was something wrong with my daughter.  I made them take an X-Ray.  Sure enough, there was a coin (they thought a quarter, but it turned out to be a nickel), wedged low in her esophagus.  It was out of sight so they didn’t see it when they looked, and it was turned so it was not totally blocking the airway so she could still breath, but it vibrated and moved a little which was uncomfortable.  This is why she had an issue with nursing.  The really scary part was that they told me if it jostled and had moved it could have completely cut off her airway!!!  What if I hadn’t listen to my intuition.  What if I blindly took her home?  Or worse yet didn’t bring her at all?  I don’t even want to think about that.  They put her under anesthesia and were able to remove the nickel safely with no lasting ill effects.

So what am I trying to share with all of you Mom’s out there…trust yourself!  God has blessed you with an amazing gift.  Don’t ever doubt your instincts.  Even if everyone is telling you otherwise, if you just have that feeling (you’ll know the one I mean), don’t discount it.  When it comes to your children, you are the best primary care doctor they can have!

I wish I had known then what I know today.  That is why I love to educate others…especially new moms so that maybe you won’t have to go through what I did.  I hope I helped someone out there that needed to hear this today.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!!

– Doc Barb but first and foremost Doc Mom