E Coli

I have a love/hate relationship with bacteria. There are a lot of good bacteria in the world that we need and depend on in our lives. For this reason I try to stay off antibiotics and as a general rule don’t bug out with anti-bacterial soaps, hand sanitizers, etc. My theory is always to be cautious, clean and thoughtful and you’ll stay healthy.


And then there are the BAD bacteria. The bacteria that made me terribly ill on my honeymoon, made scales appear all over my face, that caused a staph infection in my armpit and most recently the evil awful terrible E Coli that gave my baby boy a bladder infection. I HATE that E Coli.

Twelve days ago Raymond’s low grade teething fever spiked and his fussiness turned to something much more serious. Once again I found myself at my pediatrician’s office at 7:00 am for walk-in hours. This time around I thought I might be being overly cautious. Maybe this was just extreme teething and they were going to tell me not to worry. Or at least that is what I was mentally trying to rationalize while all of my mother instincts were totally freaking out.

We went through it all, the symptoms, the exam and finally the dreaded finger prick. After squeezing Raymond’s finger dry the doctor (who I love, btw) came back in to report that his white blood cell count was very high (a “20”) and as the ears, nose and throat were all clear that left us with one other option, his bladder. The only way to check was via catheter. I held my baby boy and covered him with kisses for the two or three minutes it took them to extract some urine and felt like the most evil terrible mother in the world. He of course bounced back right afterwards and was not at all upset.

We had to wait about 15 minutes for the results – so I nursed Raymond and played with him and generally he seemed to be feeling a lot better. Again my mind was thinking I put us through all of this unnecessarily.

The doctor walked back in again with a grave expression on her face. There was blood in his urine and an even higher white blood cell count. We had to wait until the next morning for the official culture results but alas we knew – bladder infection. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.

Bladder infections can quickly reach the kidneys which is the primary concern for safety reasons – as such there is no way to avoid the use of antibiotics. Damn it. We started treatment immediately and I also started supplementing with some pro-biotics on the advice of baby nurse extraordinaire, Aunt Carol Vickery. Raymond has two days left of the antibiotics and seems to be doing quite well.

I, on the other hand, have put myself through and through the ringer about how my baby boy could get E Coli. I have talked to two nurses and three doctors all of which have told me that it just happens and I can’t put this on myself. I have blamed myself for not keeping the dog away from Raymond, for not washing his hands more, for kissing his fingers, for letting the bottle serialization area in our kitchen get too close to the food prep. And it goes on and on.

Most notably I mistakenly let myself get taken in by some dumb internet site that said it was my fault for not circumcising Raymond. I have since done much more credible research and checked with every doctor I know to confirm that this was not the cause. (On this point I would like to make a side note that everyone I consulted advised me that while there is a slightly higher correlation between uncircumcised boys under one year of age to bladder infections it is not the cause and in fact the lifelong average of bladder infections in uncircumcised males is significantly less. I was also told across the board by everyone I consulted that the lifelong health benefits to the male are so great when not circumcised that whatever correlation exists to infant bladder infections is inconsequential in comparison. My question to you all then is WHY DON’T THEY TELL ALL PARENTS ABOUT ALL THE HEALTH BENEFITS WHEN THEY ARE DECIDEING WHAT TO DO? Passing out at pamphlet is one thing, but actually hearing it from the doctor is another. Still too touchy of a subject I guess.)

Next week I have to take Raymond to have an ultrasound of his kidneys as there is a slight chance that he may have an enlarged kidney that is the cause of his infection. Again blaming myself for anything I could have done in my life to mess up my reproductive organs so he might have a kidney irregularity. We also have to do another catheter to make sure the urine is all clear of infection.

If he gets a second bladder infection then we will have to have more invasive testing done. God willing that won’t happen.

In the meantime I am scrubbing down my house at every turn and making my husband crazy with all of my newly instituted mania. Earlier this week he asked if it was still possible for me to just sit and take a breather as I seem to either been tending to Raymond or cleaning something. Obviously - Morgan is right - I can’t sit down very easily. I don’t think I’ll be able to do so until I know my baby boy is really okay.