10.29.2008

Mommy Life Lessons

Never in my life have I ever felt so helpless as I have in the last 72 hours. My baby has been sick. Apparently when a stomach virus takes over your baby's immune system the effects can last and last and last. Emersen started this whole nightmare with a fever on Friday. I thought she may have started teething (finally!) so I gave her cold things to chew on, Tylenol and tepid baths (which she let me know she could have done with out thank you very much) and lots of mommy snuggles.

Turns out, when your baby has had a fever for two days and then starts throwing up, your mommy instincts kick in and says "Emergency Room, Now." Unfortunately, two a.m. Sunday morning is when those instincts kicked in for me. Paul and I took Emersen to the E.R. and we were seen fairly quickly, considering we were the only people there. (Praise God) The doctor there examined her, and told us that 102.5 degree fevers where typically indicative of viral infections and there were no medications we could give her to cure it. We'd have to wait it out. He prescribed us some Tylenol so we wouldn't have to stop and by any and sent us on our way.

After a full nights rest, and some Pedialyte she was looking much better. (Here's where life and lessons go hand in hand.) So, I decided to nurse her for a little while because she had to be hungry, she hadn't eaten in almost twelve hours! As soon as I stopped nursing her, every single drop of milk was soaking my hair/shirt/shorts. She threw up, again. Lesson Learned.

So, continue that day of packing and cuddling because the next morning we are to fly to California to see Nana and Papa! Emersen was doing fine, the fever was under control and she was playing normally.

Cut to Monday morning. I called our pediatrician, just to be on the safe side. I let him know we were getting on a plane in a few hours, and I wanted to be absolutely sure we weren't doing something horrible to our baby. The pediatrician told us as long as she was keeping fluids down and having wet diapers without a high fever we were good to go.

And we were! Emersen made it through the flight with little fan fare. Of course, this is her third trip and fifth time flying so this is old hat for her. The little varmints sitting behind us however, were obnoxious and their parents were even more so for not doing something about it. I mean, I even let one of the little ones play with Emersen's toys. (When I pulled them out of the diaper bag to organize it, his eyes got as big as saucers! Other babies toys are like manna from heaven! The mom didn't even acknowledge my efforts to help make her life a bit easier.

So, the drive home was also uneventful, thanks to Darlene and her giant SUV! After getting lost for a few minutes in the airport trying to find our luggage, we get to the vehicle and are on our way. Emersen did quite well our first night home. It was rough putting her in the play pen since her crib is at a different level, she wasn't too sure about being put down so far!

Last night was a different story. Emersen's whole torso was covered in a rash! During the day it didn't look so bad, but when we were trying to get her bathed that I felt the need to take her to the emergency room here in Napa. The rash was creeping up her face! Her FACE! We don't mess with the face! Dr. Sprinkle was awesome. He walked in, and officially declared her rash "something everyone gets when they are a baby" and gave us benadryl to ease her itchiness. Another mommy lesson learned. When your baby has a fever for a few days, she's most likely going to have a rash afterward! B

Phew. Emersen is much happier today, less clingy and warming up to her Nana quite nicely! I'll be updating again soon, probably from home with plenty of pictures!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am so glad she is doing so much better. You are a good mom and life lessons will continue throughout her life and then into being a Nana for her children. You have so much to look forward to. Too bad babies don't come with a manuel. But then, something would have gotten left out, right when you need it. She is such a cutie. Hope you are enjoying your visit and Nana & Papa are getting a chance to spoil her while they can. See you soon!

Nicole Neuman said...

Glad to hear she is doing better. Aren't there hotlines or something for this sort of thing? I mean, the emergency room over a rash??? I hope you are having a good visit :-) I miss you!

Nicole said...

Hey make sure Queen doesn't charge you for that. They have often billed things incorrectly then sent me a bill. Glad things are moving smoothly now and the plane was uneventful. Our boys have both been flying from very young and even now the people around us are always impressed by how well they handle it. Guess that's something you have to learn as a military brat:).

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