The Peanut Scare and the Lesson Learned

When I had Little Man I was very very overprotective, especially in the beginning.  A lot of people gave me a hard time about how many times I made people wash their hands, the hand sanitizer that I carried around, the way I wiped down and lysoled public tables etc.  This time around, I really was making an attempt to relax as much as I could and be a more laid back kind of mom.  I was succeeding in my laid back approach, taking the boys to the zoo, mall and other places I would never have ventured when Little Man was an infant.   

SO with that backstory, here is the story of the blessing in disguise.  Yesterday I had a very big scare.  Little Man was goofing around and hit Peanut on the top of his head right on his soft spot.  A few minutes later Peanut started projectile vomiting and after checking his temp we called the pediatrician.  We rushed right in.  It turns out that the two were totally unrelated and that Little Man's inclusion of Peanut in Duck Duck Goose would not cause any damage.  BIG SIGH! But the temp was concerning to the doctor and I learned that if his temp goes up over 100.4 as an infant, he would be hospitalized and given a total septic work-up which would include a spinal tap.  So after taking a deep breath when I learned that my 2 year old didn't break my 3 week old, I freaked out all over again about the possible hospitalization and spinal tap!  Well thankfully his temp was low enough to send us home with instructions to watch him and keep taking his temp and he has recovered.  BUT because I am used to a 2 year old who can tolerate a temp, if his temp and vomiting hadn't been paired with Little Man's Duck Duck Goose tap I would never have taken his temperature as seriously and wouldn't have rushed to the doctor.  SO ANOTHER BIG SIGH!  I know God has a plan and that He is in control of all things - but it is another thing to see His hand in your daily trauma.  It is a beautiful thing to take a very scary situation and see the silver lining, the lesson even.  Now I am a semi-relaxed, hyper-vigilant, overprotective mother of two and very confident that it is exactly as I am supposed to be.