A Weekend of Firsts . . . . .Good and Bad

It's been an interesting few days, ladybug fans. Would you like to hear the good or the bad first? Let's start with the bad (caveat - it's really not that bad in retrospect, but still . . . .) We made our first trip as freaked out parents to the emergency room on Friday night. Now, in our defense, it wasn't even our idea. We had been watching Celia's low grade fever since Wednesday (around the 100 mark) - I stayed home with her on Wednesday, then Thursday morning, Mike taking over Thursday afternoon. We weren't too concerned, though feeling bad for her - she was stuffed up and very unhappy, though Celia always smiles through it. On Friday morning, we thought her fever had broken - Mike checked her temperature in the morning, and he said that she even seemed a little low. Yay! Our "wait and see" approach had worked. I was very proud of myself for not jumping to the "sky is falling" conclusion that I am a bit prone to. Friday night I was driving home and got a call from Mike - "where are you?" Almost home, I said. Why? "Her fever is up." Gulp. How up? "103." Alright, so, we stayed calm and headed to our local Urgent Care.

No big deal. I can do this. We get to the Urgent Care and, surprise surprise, it is PACKED. An hour wait. Celia's eyes are watering, her face is flushed, and she is looking very unhappy. I call another urgent care in town that takes appointments. I tell the triage nurse what our story is. Does she say, "sure, we have an opening at 7:00, come on over" ? No, she says, "take her to the emergency room at Children's hospital." What? Why? What's wrong? Is she that sick? So, on the way over to the emergency room I am trying to not get worked up, but a nurse - A NURSE - has told me to take my beloved daughter to the emergency room because there is an EMERGENCY. It is so dire that I have to take her to a specified ROOM that specializes in EMERGENCIES like hers and to a specified HOSPITAL because she is so LITTLE. (Are you getting the SERIOUSNESS from my CAPITALIZING?) We get to the emergency room and they take her temperature right away - It is down to 102. The nurse does not seem concerned with her temp, so I calm down a little bit. We then proceed to spend an hour (or so) in the waiting area. Mike brings me a salad from the vending machine - cubes of meat, cubes of cheese, an egg-like product and lettuce that is WAY too green - and he informs me that he spent $2.95. How very romantic. Turns out Celia has a LOT of wax in her ear and an infection. We are sent home with antibiotics, and Mike comments how it's almost like we were on a date - we left the house, stayed out late and spent more money than we wanted to. Celia is still taking meds, still cranky but doesn't have the temperature, so we are over the hump, I think.

I know, I know, many of the moms reading this blog know that babes can get temps up to 105 from not so serious illnesses, but boy is it frightening the first time it happens. I felt rather helpless - she was so pitiful, with her little red nose and her watery eyes, and was it my fault for waiting and should I have taken her in to the doctor sooner and now have I screwed everything up and she has a resperatory infection or are they going to have to put her in an ice bath because she is so warm? It was emotionally tiring - you are trying not to think the worst, trying to reason, but it is the thing you love the most in the world hurting and all you can do is drive from urgent care to emergency room and just HOPE you are doing the right thing. I think that is what parenting is all about, right? Driving and driving toward something or some place and just hoping you are doing the right thing or making the right choices.

Now on to the good first - she has begun to crawl! It is slow and deliberative - THUMP - one hand - SCOOT - one knee - THUMP - second hand - SCOOT - second knee. Pause - breathe heavily. Catch breath. Repeat. Mike and I agree that we are SCREWED when she ups the tempo, but right now it is just really fun to see her exploring her new mobility. She realizes that she doesn't have to be frustrated as much any more. She can see something and then GO GET IT! How very fun!

It's really cold here this weekend - a negative 9 this a.m. as I went to church. We are all feeling a little cabin fever, trying to stay warm in the house while our furnace tries to keep up. Until our next post, stay warm and pray for two parents who are feverishly (no pun intended) trying to put all sharp or delicate things up on shelves. Note to self - install shelves.