First trip to the hospital isn't an easy trip

CLEVELAND - The stresses that we faced as new parents have been wide ranging, but so far but we have made it through all of them. Nothing will compare to the delivery day, but we did feel a little helpless on that first trip to the hospital and calling the doctor’s office with a question because something just doesn’t seem right with Mason.

Since I work overnights and my wife works during the day, Mason has to spend some time at a daycare, and that’s where our first trip to the hospital began.

The first trip to the hospital started with a call to my wife from the daycare saying Mason had a cough. She went and picked him up and when she brought him home, she woke me up. It took a while for Mason to cough and when he did, it sounded like a 75-year-old lifetime smoker was in our home.

Immediately, we both started to freak out a little. I had never heard anyone sound quite like that, let alone a 3-month-old boy.

We called the doctor and while on the phone Mason started to cough again, almost on cue. The doctor could hear him and made the recommendation to take him to the emergency room.

The doctor’s words were without hesitation and struck me like a bat to the head. I had just been told for the first time that you need to get your baby to medical professionals, and quickly.

I knew this day would come but this first time was overwhelming. What were we going to hear when we got to the hospital? Was this just something simple? The biggest thing I took from the trip was to be calm and listen.

The doctors diagnosed the problem as croup, a respiratory infection, and we were given some medication and in less than a week he was back to normal.

Nothing will prepare new parents for that first trip to the ER, but remember, the doctors and nurses see first time parents all the time and usually have simple answers to what might seem like a huge sickness.

Mason has been through at few ear infections since the first trip to the hospital and each time things have been much easier.