The True Meaning of Fear

About 3:30 Sunday morning, Kenneth and I got our first real dose of fear. I thought I'd been afraid before, but I was wrong!

Ashleigh woke up and seemed a bit warm. She's so hot natured, Kenneth just set the thermostat a little lower. Well, she drank about 1.5 oz. (she usually takes about 8) and went to sleep. I laid her down and went to bed, but was immediately back up because I KNEW something was wrong. I started undressing her and she didn't wake up. She was absolutely burning up, so I got her out of bed to take her temp. You're supposed to leave the thermometer in for 60 seconds for an accurate reading. I glanced down after about 20 seconds and saw it hit 104 and keep going. Can you say "FREAK OUT"? I just started calling Kenneth and didn't even finish with the temp. We put cool wet cloths on her and gave her Tylenol, then she started throwing up, but only what she'd just eaten, so it wasn't that bad. When she finished, we got more Tylenol in her. What was really scary was that she was so lethargic. It was like she wanted to be awake and crying, but just didn't have it in her.

I forgot EVERYTHING I've read about fevers, etc. so I told Kenneth that I was going to look up really quick what it said in "What to Expect the First Year." Well, that crazy book said if your baby's fever was over 105 and you couldn't get it down, then call the doctor. MmmmHmmm.....WHATEVER, CRAZY PEOPLE!!! I called the pediatrician's office to get the emergency number, which was of course, the hospital. I had to tell the operator Ashleigh's name, age, bday, symptoms and regular doctor. Luckily, her doctor was on call and even better, he called back in 2 minutes. (I timed it.) He asked a couple of questions and then asked if I was Jackie and I told him yes. He said that he thought it was me, and that he would tell any parent to come to the ER, but that he knew me and if I was worried enough to call, to definitely bring her in. He assured me the doctor in the ER was very good and he'd call if he had any questions or thought he couldn't handle it.

OK.

We throw on our clothes and Kenneth drove like a MANIAC to the hospital. Well, maybe not a maniac, but really, really fast. We got there at 4:17 and when we walked into the ER waiting room, I was all excited because it was empty. THEN the receptionist told us to take a number and be seated. EXCUSE ME??? I decided to give them 3 minutes, but luckily (for them, LOL) the nurse came out to get us before I sat down. She asked some questions and weighed Ashleigh, but I soon realized that Dr. Odom had already called in and spoken with the staff because they had medicine ready for her and SHE WAS ALREADY IN THE COMPUTER, so I didn't have to deal with any of that! People can be snide about small towns all they like, but how many places will you get that level of care? Her temp was down to 102 soon. They did chest X-rays that came back fine, but her white count was 16,800 and it should be 10,(something). So the good news: it appears not to be serious. The bad news: they have no idea WHAT caused it. He said there was some infection somewhere in her and he didn't know if it was viral or bacterial, so they'd give her antibiotics anyway. A shot, then Zithromax for 5 days. My poor baby. The temp was down to 101 by the time we left at 6am.

In addition to the antibiotic, she has to take Tylenol/Motrin, alternating every 2-3 hours. I found out the hard way yesterday, she has to have it every 2 hours. Then overnight, she only got Tylenol once, and at 5:45, her temp was 103.3. I can't describe to you how bad THAT made me feel. But she had so much trouble sleeping that I didn't want to wake her up every 2 hours, because when you're sick, sleep helps lots. My mother-in-law called at 8 to say her temp was back to normal, thank goodness.

And through it all, she's been so SWEET!! She gets a little fussy occasionally, but she spend most of yesterday playing and laughing. Then she'd tire herself out and sleep awhile, then was ready to go again.

The rest of our weekend was alright, I suppose. We had a yummy dinner with my in-laws, then watched National Treasure, which we both enjoyed. Saturday I did some housework while Kenneth cleaned out his shop. Then we just hung out and played with Ashleigh.

Any tips on how NOT to age 10 years every time your child is sick would be greatly appreciated. : )