Big Visit for a Tiny Person

I'm not a mom who runs to the Dr. at the first sign of a cold. I'm always waiting until the last possible moment to see if the sickness will run its course. (I've developed some tried and true methods for managing the symptoms). My fear of going at the beginning of a cold, is that it will be nothing and I've wasted time and money when I could have handled it on my own. Plus, I don't want them to think I'm crazy or something. (I would like to note that I NEVER think other moms are crazy or strange for taking their kids in. I don't even give it a second thought. This assumption only applies to me).

That said, Thursday night Lily came down with a fever of 101.6. Not high, but no other symptoms. I geared up for the snot to run and the cough to start. Friday, nothing. However, still a very high fever. (between 102-104). I called the nurse line as I was a little worried b/c of the lack of symptoms. She said, keep a watch out of lethargy and if no symptoms develop by Saturday morning to call again. Saturday, no symptoms and a sad looking Lily.

I had the "mother's intuition" that something wasn't right. So I called the nurse again and we talked about how to keep the fever low and that I would bring her in Sunday morning. At 3:00 p.m. she woke from her nap with intense chill's and her lips were turning blue. At this point I'm freaking out.

Dave and I were having difficulty deciding what to do. We needed to get out of the house. (big mistake here) We went to the mall for a bit and while there, lily was limp in her stroller. Took her temp and it was still very high. The nurse on the phone was so helpful. She said if I had "the feeling", take her in.

At 6 p.m. I arrive at Emmanuel Children's Emergency Dept. They were so great. We took her temp, it was 104 and she was roasting, lethargic and screaming sporadically. They dosed her with Tylenol to try and bring the fever down. I had horrible thoughts of her going limp in my arms. The doctor's would rush her in, take her out of my arms and shove me outside the door. All the while I'm crying my eyes out. Okay, I may have watched Grey's Anatomy too many times. I was praying the whole time that the Lord would give me words to pray. My brain wasn't working so well and I needed a little help. I will never leave you, nor forsake you. I started to wonder what the Lord was preparing me for.

Her little admitting bracelet. (I'm sure babies get this in the hospital, but since both my girls were born at home, this was the first bracelet from the hospital)


We were checked into a room at 7:30. They took her temp again and it was only down to 103.7. They decided to give her another dose of Ibuprofen to try and bring it down as fast as they could. I undressed her and put on this little tiny hospital gown with little pink hippos. The site of that alone was enough to put me on the verge of tears again. They rolled in this huge crib for her to crawl. Her heartbeat was pretty fast, but she was perking up a bit.

trying to get away before the crib came

Lily has a labial adhesion. I discovered it when she was 4 months old. Two doctors have told me two different opinions (of course) about treatment. One is an estrogen cream used for 3 weeks to a months in very small amounts to help it open. The other is leaving it until it opens up when she starts to make estrogen. The scary part about the adhesion is that it can fuse shut preventing her from urinating. I mentioned that she had this and they suggested we look at the possibility of a UTI (urinary tract infection). They would need to do a catheter to get a pure urine sample. (I was starting to get queasy) However, before they did that, they needed to check the adhesion and see about moving it apart. Sure enough, it was almost fussed and they needed to numb the area and pull it apart.

They put the numbing cream on and took us to x-ray so they could rule out a chest infection or pneumonia. Apparently pneumonia can lay dormant without other symptoms. The x-ray came back clear.

Time to do the awful stuff. It took 2 nurses, 1 doctor, and myself to hold her down. And this is just to pull back the skin. It was horrible. Thankfully, she starting to pee and they caught just enough for a sample. Phew! We were saved the catheter.

At 10:20 the tests came back completely clear and it was obvious her fever was breaking. They will continue to do further tests on the urine, but it looks good. Apparently kids can develop fevers without other symptoms which means it's just viral. Praise God!

Today she is a little down, sleeping alot, but thankfully no fever.

Just after I was recovering from all the trauma. Dave heads off to urgent care and finds out he has Shingles. Sigh.