Today, I was totally THAT mom.

Before I had Harrison I had a suspicion that I was going to be one of those parents who was over the top paranoid when it came to my baby's health and safety. You know, the good-intentioned-yet-nevertheless-annoyingly-obnoxious type. The type that puts the stop sign on the carrier so nobody dares to so much as glance at their baby, much less touch them. The type who has the pediatrician's number on speed dial and calls them on a daily basis. The type who sanitizes everything in sight, because omg my baby can't come into contact with a single germ or he will DIE!  (No offense to you if you are that type of parent. Like I said, I thought I was going to be, too)

I have to say, though, I feel like I transitioned into motherhood quite naturally. Of course I've had a few moments where I felt scared or overwhelmed and at a loss for what to do in certain situations. But mostly, I've remained far more level-headed and cool and confident than I ever anticipated my neurotic self to be. I realized very early on that there was much beyond my control and that, for my sanity, I needed to adopt Rick's "go with the flow" mentality. I learned that if my son wanted to chew or lick or munch on germy grossness then more than likely he would find a way to chew or lick or munch on germy grossness. I did my best to prevent it, but when it happened I did the next most healthy thing: shudder, and then file it away in the denial section of the brain and poof! It never happened, right? And when he's gotten sick, I've learned to take a step back from the Mommy Panic Instinct and instead evaluate the situation to see if a doctor's appointment is even necessary (and usually, it hasn't been).

Except for today. Today the Mommy Panic Instinct totally dominated me. A couple of days ago I noticed that Harrison had a what looked like a blister forming on his gums. It was a lot farther back in his mouth than where his teeth should be coming in, so I knew it couldn't be that. It was swollen and red, and he wouldn't let me touch it. Today it was even bigger and the tip of it was white. I somehow convinced myself that it was a cyst, or an infected splinter from chewing on his crib, or some sort of disease (there's actually one called Hand Foot Mouth Disease...I don't have a clue what the symptoms are, but hello? Blister in mouth. Red flag.), or even something far worse. So this afternoon I picked up the phone and called his pediatrician. As I waited for them to call me back, I started getting really anxious. I called my mom to ask her opinion and get some reassurance. We chatted about possible causes and I tried to sound calm and nonchalant, but by this point I was pretty sure there was a terrible malignant tumor growing in my son's jaw. I was starting to get those knots in my stomach and when I heard the beep of the other line, I immediately clicked over to see if I needed to rush my sick little baby in to see his doctor.

Um, that would be a negative.

Because, appaaaaarently, babies get their first set of molars right after their first birthday. Which is why they're called their ONE YEAR MOLARS. Yeah, parenting fail on my end. I thought they didn't get their molars until at least 2.

So today, I was totally that mom. The mom who calls the doctor because her baby has sore gums, is cranky, and there's no way the cause could be something as simple as teething. I'm just glad I called first and didn't actually take him in!