Typical New Parents

So we're officially THOSE new parents who are easily freaked out and take their baby to the pediatrician for what is actually nothing. In our defense, it was breathing-related and I'd rather be safe than sorry with anything related to Joey's breathing.

He woke me up this morning with his normal minimal fussing and when I looked over he had a huge gob of mucus hanging out of his nose. I picked him up and took him to the living room with the baby snot sucker (technically called a bulb syringe). I took care of that gob but he started fussing and crying even more (this is a kid who hasn't cried more than a few seconds at a time in his life and even then it was only when in pain from being stuck at the hospital). He appeared to have a hard time breathing, like he forgot he could breath through his mouth. Using the snot sucker I got an adult-sized amount of mucus out of his nose and mouth, but he was still having a hard time breathing and still fussing and crying. He wasn't turning blue, he stayed a healthy pink, which is the only reason that I didn't call 911, but I think the only reason he was getting air was because he was crying. When he was crying, he was gurgling in mucus that was too far back for me to get with the syringe. He kept throwing his head back and arching his back, trying to lie back.

Our pediatrician's office has Saturday hours, thankfully, and I called asking if I could come in right away. Initially they asked if I could bring him in an hour later, but I said I'd prefer to come in immediately and I think hearing the baby crying in the background helped my case. At this point, Dan was up and holding Joey vertically against his chest. That position seemed to be helping a lot--even though Joey was still struggling and trying to lie back, because his breathing got easier and he even stopped crying. We still went to the pediatrician's, and he said that even though it was scarey, Joey was fine and can get runny noses without the presence of a cold. Because he's a baby, and can't blow his own nose, the mucus accumulates which is why it's important for us to flush out his nasal passageways with saline drops when he sounds congested.

So we officially freaked out over nothing, typical first time parents. I'd still rather be safe than sorry.