I (heart) my new NP.

OK, I'm not just complaining & being a baby. I do have a full blown sinus infection. And worse than that, Bitsy has an ear infection.

This morning she was snotty, had a weepy eye, & a dry shallow cough. Add that to the lack of a voice & you have a concerned Mama. She felt a little warm when she woke up, so I took her temperature & it was 100.1. I called the doctor & found out he's hired a new Nurse Practitioner. She could see Bitsy at 9:30, so I showered, dressed the baby & headed to town.

Miss Cheryl (the new NP) came in the exam room and asked me how old Bitsy is. As soon as I answered, she looked at me and said, "You're ill too aren't you?" I told her I thought it was just allergies, but I've had a sinus headache. She immediately went to get my chart saying there was no point in treating Bitsy if I was sick too.

She was very thorough with both of us, very kind, very interested in everything I had to say, not at all patronizing, and never acted like she was in a rush to get on to the next patient. In fact, it was quite the opposite. She settled in like she was ready for a long chat about any questions I had. She had no qualms about doing my exam while Bitsy was nursing (she encouraged me to nurse & let me get settled before she examined me so she wouldn't disturb Bitsy). She even went to ask the doctor if we needed to bring Bitsy back for a follow up. He said no since I'm rather experienced with little people & ear infections.

I was apprehensive about a new NP since I loved the last one we saw so much, but Miss Cheryl is wonderful. Hopefully with BabyGirl & #1 Son's tubes in, we won't have to go see her as often as we saw Miss Becky, but I'm still glad she's there.

She sent me home with a prescription for antibiotics for me (that's safe to take while I nurse), and prescriptions for Bitsy for antibiotics, Benadryl to dry her up, and a pain killing ear drop just in case. My only issue was with the Wal-Mart pharmacy that forgot to add the water to Bitsy's amoxicillin sending me home with a bottle of powder. I didn't want to drive the 15-20 miles back into town to get it taken care of, so the pharmacy in the little town where the kids go to school did it for me.

Now if only we can keep the other three healthy...