Two days in Hell

Annalise has had her first ever illness.

Starting Sunday morning at 4am, she woke with a 100 degree fever. I thought it wasn't a big deal, so I gave her some infant Tylenol, let her play for an hour, then we went back to sleep.

Her fever persisted, getting higher as the day went on. She ate her lunch and napped as usual. When she woke up, it was horrendous. Her little head felt so hot. We took her temp again and it was 103.7, so I starting freaking out. We got all ready to take her to the ER. Fortunately, Trendon had the presence of mind to call ahead. They said all they'd end up doing is alternating Tylenol and Motrin and watch her overnight. I figured, hey, I can do that at home.

4:30pm, on the way to the bedroom to nurse her to sleep, Annalise pukes ALL over me. None on her, very little on the floor, lots on me. Yuck. I love her, but her puke is gross.

I cleaned her up and got her to take a nap. When she woke up she seemed to be doing a lot better. We made dinner and I prepared a bland meal of rice and chicken broth while she drank some diluted juice. Everything is going well, I held the first bite of food up to her mouth when WHAM-O vomits pours forth as if from a fountain. Again, none got on her. Tren says he heard a "Oh, ew." and looked up to see Annalise dousing me in vomit. Ugh.

The night was filled with nursing, Tylenol and Motrin doses, rocking, singing, applying cool wet cloths to her head, and some fitful sleeping on her part.

I called and made an appointment and we got in at 1:30pm.

Annalise was tortured. First, they dosed her with 8cc of Tylenol. The doctor's initially thought that it was a UTI, so they put a freaking catheter in to get a "clean" sample. Then, they had to take blood because they didn't know why she had such a high fever. They couldn't get blood from either of her arms OR her feet. I had to call Trendon to come to the Pediatric Clinic because I couldn't do it alone. She was screaming and crying and thrashing about. Poor little pumpkin ended up getting a freaking arterial prick, meaning they nicked an artery to get blood! It was very traumatic for both mother and child.

Then we ended up waiting in the pharmacy for an hour just for some stronger Tylenol and Motrin.

Now we're at home. She's doing MUCH better. Her fever is lower and she's playing like usual. The doctor told me that the pee-pee sample and initial bloodwork were both fine. It takes 24-48hrs to complete the urine and blood cultures, so we're praying that they both so up normal.

On a lighter note, as I sat in the lab nursing Annalise, a doctor came through and grinned at me, she said "It's always SO wonderful to see people nursing their toddlers." I was like"...whoa..what? I'm not nursing a toddler." Annalise isn't a toddler, is she? She's not even a year old yet. Not that there is anything AT ALL wrong with nursing a toddler, I'm just saying. She's still a baby.