Epic

Last night was our first hospital trip with Heidi since her birth. She had been fighting a croup-ish thing since Wednesday night and symptoms included a fever, which I was medicating, but last night continued to rise even with Tylenol dosage. When she reached 104.3 we called our Dr. who advised we go to the hospital.

Thankfully UNM has a separate Pediatric ER wing, so we were not subjected to the 10-hour wait, but I think since her fever was so high they put us on the top of the list, because we didn't have to wait long before they started all the stuff: asking us lots of questions with clipboards and tying things to her toes. They also gave her a big dose of Ibuprofen which broke the fever almost immediately--I should have just done that sooner since another nurse I had spoken to on the phone advised it earlier that evening. Hindsight...

Since she had been sick for more than two days and had agitated breathing, the Dr. on call ordered a check for a super-infection that included all the usual samples, which were very hard to acquire from a tired and scared toddler at what was now 2:30 in the morning. She fought those nurses like a wildcat, which unfortunately meant more IV punctures for her since they were very surprised at her strength and there seemed to be a lot of fumbling and flailing on everyone's part. At first they were telling us not to hold her, but after a few minutes of that they were grateful for some extra hands. We could have told them that ours is a superbaby.

Her tour also included a chest x-ray which I could only watch through a window, being pregnant and all. It was like some kind of wild child documentary: husband trying to hold her down while the techs tried to come up with a way to cover her with the smock thing, which she kicked off repeatedly with a vengeance and howled like Mowgli.

All that excitement though helped her to go to sleep, which she did, thankfully until we were discharged at 5:30 a.m. with an RSV diagnosis. Mercifully, she slept today until about 11 and went back to bed after some oatmeal brunch.

We are tired and glad that it's Saturday. I am so thankful that husband took her temperature at the right time so we could respond quickly. That so far in the life of our family, this has been the exception and not the rule. It was a terrible, terrible feeling seeing our baby so sick and I'm thankful that it didn't last long. I truly can't imagine the deep suffering of families whose children are fighting long-term illnesses and who spend days and days in hospitals. I am thankful for good medical staff who did what was needed. And I was so thankful to go into her room this morning and see her rolling around in her crib, still fighting a temp, but alive, well, tube-free, and happy to see her mama. Praise God from Whom all Blessings Flow, especially this Blessing.