As happens occasionally, I was awoken by Emma around 5:30 this morning at my side of the bed. Usually, she has lost her "wii", (aka her pacifier) and can't find it. This morning, though, she was crying and had her wii, so I thought I would just try and lay her down in bed with us...thinking she had a bad dream or something. Well, she did not want to lay down...and a few seconds later as I was covered in throw-up I understood why.
I don't think until you become a parent (especially to one who has been so sick), you realize how much you love another person because you don't really care about the mess that is on you at that point, but all of your thoughts are towards your baby who isn't feeling well. By the time I got her into the bathroom, she was asleep...out...exhausted....and burning up with fever. So, I called in for a sub, ran up to the school at 6:00am (thankfully I know the alarm code!), and set my sub plans in motion. As any teacher will tell you, it's almost more work setting up for a sub than preparing for a real class yourself.
Anyways, all day she was burning up with fever and about 10:30 it was over 103 so I called the pediatrician to make an appointment for the afternoon. She never did throw up again, but she did not want to move at all , was listless (which is exactly opposite of her normal behavior), and didn't want to leave my arms. I also felt like she was breathing really fast and her heart was racing. Now, most parents probably wouldn't think twice of those symptoms (but maybe they do, my whole outlook on a sick child is skewed, I think)...and I might have been imagining them, but again, I wanted to be safe and know for sure it was just a little virus or something.
Which it was. A starting of an ear infection in the one ear where her tubes have closed up. Dr. Yee spent a long time listening to her breathing and heart for me, and said it sounded fine. Probably the racing and hurried breathing was just working harder due to the fever. Actually, as we waited in the office, she didn't move from my arms for 45 minutes, and then once we got into the exam room, I laid her down on the exam table and she almost immediately fell asleep! Once we got home (after the traditional sucker from the doctor!) she has felt much better, and her fever finally is below 100. In fact, she just came into the room with her Thumper bunny in her baby stroller, taking him for a walk around the house. Of course, once she saw me at the computer, she climbed up into my lap, wanting to go to the "Wiggles" website to play games.
One of these days, and maybe with another child, I will be not as over-anxious about my child getting sick. Probably, though, at least with Emma, I will be over-cautious!
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Sick kids are never fun and never easy. . .even after three! :-P I totally hear you on the sub preparations! I finally devised an 'emergency sub binder (folder)' in my classroom. The thing took me a full couple weeks to plan out and put together, but it was well worth it! Keep in mind I was teaching every class of K-5 in an elementary school (about 500 students). I had about five ready to execute plans for each grade level in that folder. I occasionally had to update it as the year went on and I was out sick here and there.
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