Seriously Salmonella

I'm sure you already know, but Seth has/had salmonella this past week. I noticed some blood in his poop on Thursday morning and called Chad, even though he'd worked all night and was then sleeping in the on-call room. He said not to worry about it since it was very little and only the one time. I worried anyway. The second time it happened that day, I really started worrying. I told Chad to call the pediatrician. He still wasn't too worried and said we'd give it til the next day and see if it would go away. The third time for that day at around 4:30, I said "Call the pediatrician NOW!" Seth was seen before they closed, but they just took a stool sample and sent it to the lab. This picture is of Seth after he got back from his Dr. visit. You can see why Chad wasn't really worried - he wasn't crying or anything at all all day, nor unusually sleepy or refusing to eat - he was pretty much normal. Me? I was a wreck. Chad went into work that Thursday night and I was paranoid things would suddenly get worse. Despite the double dose of anxiety meds I took that night, I didn't do much sleeping. I would have been up a lot anyway, since Seth continued to poop (with blood) all through the night, every 3-4 hours or so. By Friday evening, there was no more blood, but we hadn't heard back from the lab and so wouldn't hear until Monday. It's a good thing the blood stopped at that point or I don't know if I would have survived the weekend. The constant pooping continued - about 12 times in a 24 hour period. I'm sooooo glad I don't have to do cloth diapers! We didn't make it to church since none of us slept well that night (when you wake up 6 times a night to feed or change a diaper, how do get any rest?) And then Monday morning I waited anxiously by the phone for answers. And they came. The pediatrician said Seth had a minor case of Salmonella. Huh? Really? She said unless he gets worse, you'll just have to let it work through his system. Since I could already see improvement, I wasn't worried he'd worsen. Then she notified me that I should expect a call from the CDC or Health Department or something, as she is required to inform them of any Salmonella cases. Anxiety went into overdrive! I imagined people coming to our house with cotton swabs and taking samples of formula and gas drops or whatever else he may have come in contact with, like the do in "House." They would come to find the Salmonella source, and find out I'm an unfit parent. I dreaded the call. Tuesday they called, and I missed the call. I knew I was going to have to call back. I put it off til the next morning. We hired a babysitter and enjoyed some real peace and rest and did not worry about the kids at all for a few hours. (thank you Jordan!) I finally called the health department back and it was just fine. The lady who called was actually really nice and as she asked me questions trying to determine what the source might be, she continued to give me praise for doing all the right things, and concluded with not knowing where he got it any more than I did. Phew. So I'm not just a stupid, careless parent who unknowingly endangers her children all the time? Now I can breathe again. Except I have a head cold now, so actually, I can't. All the stress definitely did not do my immune system any favors. Oh well. I suppose now we'll all get this and we'll all take turns being sick for the rest of the month. At least no one else got salmonella. Oh, and here's a cute short video of Seth to show you how much better he is feeling. I'm loading the really short one, cuz I wanna get to bed. :) Maybe I'll load other videos next time.