We're sick

This winter seems to be plaguing us much more than usual with sickness. We can't seem to evade it for more than a few days and had our biggest scare the other night when we took Lily to the ER for the first time. She had a high fever for over 24 hours that we couldn't seem to get down; we tried tylenol, cold baths, ice, cool rags and nothing seemed to work. She had finally fallen asleep in my arms watching Dumbo around 7:30 p.m. so I laid her in her crib and she awoke several times within the next half hour. Brynt suggested we take her temperature and thank goodness we did because it was at 105.2. I quickly threw her in a cold bath while Brynt called the doctor. I knew having a high fever was not good but I wasn't entirely sure why so that uncertainty pared with my daughter sitting in a cold bath crying, "Momma, Mommy" weakened my resolve to be strong and brave for her. Tears ran down my face as I watched her so miserable and felt her skin so hot. A few minutes later Brynt came in and said to take her out, the doctor said we need to get to the ER immediately. I had imagined this scenario in my mind before, as I'm sure most mother's have, and of course it didn't happen the way it had in my mind. The fear was there but I had a goal to get my daughter to the hospital as safely, quickly, and calmly as possible and it was this goal that did not let the fear overcome me. I will admit the calmness did not last as I sat in the backseat taking in everything that is wonderful about my Lily when Brynt told me to make sure she stayed responsive. The looming feelings that came from that statement sent a few more tears cascading down my cheeks as I sat contemplating the possible scenarios we would encounter that night.

We pulled up to the Children's ER and I was pleased to see there was no wait and the staff were pleasant and calming. Some of the fears came flooding back as she cried my name when they put her identification wrist band on but things were happening quickly so I didn't really have time to process that. An attending came in right away and told us she would have to have an IV to rehydrate her and they would give her Motrin as it tends to work better and last longer (we were surprised to hear this as we did not even know she could have Motrin at her age.) Then the doctor came in and said he didn't want an IV because he wanted to see if the motrin worked well enough that she could rehydrate herself but he did want to put in a catheter to check for a UTI and do an xray to check for pneumonia. Of course this frightened the daylights out of me as she lost it every time they listened to her lungs and couldn't even stand the pulse monitor on her toe. By the grace of God all they ended up doing was the catheter which only lasted a few seconds and that was the only time I wasn't able to hold her, even then I was right by her side. That came back clear and once the motrin kicked in she drank quite a bit of milk and fell asleep. The doctor said she had taken in enough fluids and her lungs sounded good, we only ended up being there three hours with minimal testing and invasiveness.

I have built up quite a tolerance for uneasiness over the years, I can usually watch gory bloody shows, listen to descriptive nurse talk during a meal and have changed my fair of rank diapers without blinking an eye. After my baby was tucked into bed and I myself laid down to rest, however, I was surprised to find myself quite queasy from the night's events. The ups and downs of motherhood continue to surprise me as I'm sure they always will. For now I thank God that my daughter is safe, healthy and has quite successfully experienced her first ER visit.

The lulling effects of proper medication in the ER