It started my Mother's Day off like any good mother should, getting thrown up on by your child and then staying awake while you watch the fever come down, or any more signs of vomit.
It happened... again.
5 times now.
But this time, we were prepared. I had the Prednisone ready. And I was on the way to the kitchen with Abby to get it when she ralphed all down my back and then all down her front.
103 was the temp this time.
I loaded the syringe with pink juice and squirted it little by little in her mouth. The whole time she's whimpering and crying. I then give her some Motrin to help with the fever. I strip her down on the kitchen counter. I strip myself down. I toss our clothes into the laundry room.
I change her diaper and give her fresh, clean, wonderful smelling, pajamas. I take her upstairs to lay with Gene (who has hurt his back and can't get out of bed without help) while I clean up the floor and start the washer.
I return upstairs and scoop her up. She's is fighting sleep. We cuddle up in the chair and I turn the tv on. For the next two hours, I watch her. She wiggles to get comfy, but never once whimpers anymore. She seems mellow. We finally both get in a position were we can sleep. I catch an hour or so. Gene then convinces me to come lay in the bed. I agree because I'm so uncomfortable.
I take her temperature before we settle in. Its 97.9. It's working. Or something is working. The Motrin usually doesn't bring it down that far, that fast. I continue to pray that the steroid does what its suppose to do because I don't know what to do if it doesn't.
Eventually, everyone gets uncomfortable in the bed and we get up. Abby jumps right up. Giggles and plays in the bed. She wants to get down and run around. She shows signs she's hungry so I let her have a few mini pancakes. I start with just two (normally she would eat 3 maybe 4). She shoved all of those in her mouth and then asked for more. There was only 3 left in the bag so I gave them to her, thinking she probably wouldn't eat them all. But almost instantly, they were gone. That is not normal with her fevers. It usually takes her several days to get back to eating like that!
I patiently waited for the Motrin to wear off. We hit the 5 hour mark, usually the point where it starts coming back. So far her temp is still normal, 98.5. The six, seven, eight hour marks come and go with no change.
We head to the Cobb's for lunch. Abby is content running around. Looking for cats, dogs, and soccer balls. She eats some lunch, but not much because there are things to go see and do. I keep an eye on her temp. It starts to raise slightly (100.0) so I dose her with Motrin. I;m too worried its going to get high again. We'd also been playing in the pool and the sun, so I don't know if she was just hot from that. I would hope not, but I've never checked my temperature in a situation like that. So now we continue to wait.
I'm worried it will be a long night, but I'm exhausted. She goes to bed with no problem and so do I. Around 4:00 she starts crying. I usually let it go and she can soothe herself back to sleep, but I was paranoid so I went to check her. She wasn't in real distress. She raised her arms to be picked up. She felt warm, so I took her temp. 98.2 She was fine. It had been twelve hours since the Motrin. She just needed some love. We rocked and cuddle in her room till she was back asleep. I put her down and went back to bed myself.
She was up on her own today. I heard her crying while I was getting ready so I went to check. Again, paranoid! She was standing at the side of her crib, just ready to get out. I picked her up. She didn't feel warm, but I checked her temp just in case. Still normal 98.4
She ate some breakfast. And off to school we went. She was delighted to see her friends and to be playing outside first thing. I watched her from the car for a while. She toddled around like all the other kids were. She went up and down the slide and climb into the playhouse all by herself.
I've put in a call to the pediatrician. To notify them on what happened, and to know what to do next. It seemed like the prednisone did the right thing. I just hate that this keeps happening. For one thing, if it is teeth, this should be the last one for a while. We still have canines to go, but hopefully we should get a break before those come in. And hopefully those will be like the other teeth and not cause any problems.
I guess my Mother's Day was meant to be spent doing what a mom should. No day of rest for me.
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