To the doctor who validated my mother's intuition ~ thank you.

For months and months I've been taking my 3 year old son to the doctor. Back in November/December, it all started with what was classified as a "croupy cough." What the hell is that supposed to mean anyway? I thought either your child had croup or they didn't. Either way, these last 4+ months, I've heard it all. Croup Bronchitis RSV Flu-like symptoms Sinus Infection Basic Cold Severe Allergies oh and the classic, "he goes to daycare..." Each time we saw the doctor, whether it was in the ER or his regular pediatrician, we were sent home with the same words, "just wait it out...I mean, look at the weather, that plays a huge part and he goes to daycare, doesn't he? ::nodding in disapproval::" I got so tired of this treatment from the doctors. Each and every time I was feeling incredibly degraded and unsettled. It was like they just assumed that since it was winter and since he attended daycare, I was being an over protective mom. I got more and more upset with time but tried to tell myself since they were the doctors, they must be right. However, this entire time, I had a nagging feeling that something else was wrong. Why was he not getting any better. Why was I trying every single pharmacy medication and homeopathic remedy I had been told about, and still nothing was making a dent in his well-being? After a really frustrating visit to the ER, where 4 different residents "saw" him and we literally left with fewer answers than what we came with, I knew something different needed to be done, I just wasn't sure what. Last night was the end for me. Kaleb was up coughing from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m. And when I say coughing, I mean COUGHING every 8-10 seconds with gagging and vomiting in between. Oh and when I say he was up, I mean up-up. There was no dozing off in between bad spells because the spell was never ending. He was crying and asking me why he couldn't stop. I was crying, wondering why I couldn't make it stop and cursing those residents who "understood exactly what we were going through", every chance I got. {I operate very, very poorly in the middle of the night with zero ability to make a rational thought or decision.} Kaleb and I slept from 6-8 a.m. and then I decided {with the help from my mom who's thought process was a bit more capable than my own} that he should be taken to Dell Children's Hospital in Austin. This isn't our normal place of care since it's out of the way but seeing as how we weren't getting any help from our regular place, this just seemed worth a try. It wasn't long that we were there and I already started to feel better about his care. Without having to wait insane amounts of time, we were able to see a doctor who was all ears from the second she walked in. She looked me in the eye, she let me tell my 4-month long story about how crazy it's all been and she never once mentioned the weather or asked if he attended daycare. After she listened to my end of things, she looked and listened to Kaleb. Almost immediately, she brought up cough-variant asthma. She explained what is, what it looks/sounds like, what it could/will mean for his future and told me I was right in going the extra mile when I felt unsure and dissatisfied with his previous care. Very few times have I felt this good about having my mother's intuition validated. Of course I would rather there not be anything wrong with my son but thanks to the imperfect world we live in, that's not a possibility. Today I was living proof that a mother knows her shit...almost always. Mama's, we should always go with our gut, especially when it comes to our babies. There's absolutely nothing wrong with questioning doctors or anyone else who might play a part in our child's care, if you feel they might be wrong. They are humans too, they make mistakes. So, I'm not 100% sure where this asthma road will take us, but the chances are very likely that he'll outgrow it. The news could have been worse and I'm thankful for the answers we received today. I'm also really really hopeful for a great-nights sleep tonight for Kaleb and I...however, judging on who held their shit together better today, going on just a couple hours of sleep, I'd say it's more important for me to get some sleep tonight... just sayin'