Just when you think it can't possibly get any more ridiculous...

It apparently can in the PICU!

Parents have said crazy things to me. They have said things that make me laugh, make me want to scream, or cry, or do all three at once! And they do crazy things. Things that illicit the previous emotions...and sometimes more!

But today my patient's mother said something that made me want to laugh, scream, cry, jump up and down, and quite possibly knock her over her head just to make sure she was aware of what was coming out of her mouth!

My patient's mom walks into the room and wakes up her sleeping 3 year old.

If there's 1 rule in the PICU, it's DO NOT wake up a sleeping baby...or toddler!

Especially if said baby has a breathing tube in that barely hangs by a thread when he wakes up because he is CRAZY! He's a thrasher and apparently only wants to be on his stomach when he's awake.

So after she wakes him up by shouting really silly nicknames in his ear I tell her (half joking/half serious, but definitely laughing to make it nicer) "Well, now that he's awake again, he's gonna try to flip over, climb out of the crib and do somersaults in bed...which doesn't fly with the breathing tube...so you get to hold him down and calm him!"

She spends about 3 minutes and then gets frustrated (don't worry, I was right by his side... I don't trust tubes with anyone else!).

And then she picks up her purse and says, "Oh, I'm exhausted. I have to go...I have another baby I have to go home to take care of."

This is as she is putting her hands on her stomach. A stomach that has her 6 week "other baby" in. Apparently, the 6 week old fetus can't be cared for in the hospital room, where her 3 year old child is currently residing. Her very sick 3 year old child.

So baby on the outside world gets 3 minutes of attention. Baby on the inside world gets much more time...23 hours and 57 minutes to be exact. (And no, there are not any other children at home...both parents have said this numerous times)

So yeah, just when I think it can't possibly get any more ridiculous, it clearly can.