Emma

I think I just aged about 10 years this morning. It all began yesterday. I took the children to the zoo w/ my friend Nancy and her boys in the morning. We had a really good time and even stopped for ice cream on the way home. When we got home I noticed that Emma felt hot when I was taking her out of her car seat. I took her temp and it was 102.4. I gave her some motrin and laid her down. That evening Sal and the boys went to the Riversharks game (Emma and I were suppose to go, but w/ her fever I didn't want to take the chance). Emma woke up from her nap feeling much cooler. I gave her dinner and put her to bed around 7:00. She woke up at 10:00 and she was on fire. I took her temp and it was 104.1. I called Marie and asked her when I should start to worry. We decided that as long as the Motrin/Tylenol was getting the fever to come down that she would be fine to wait until morning to go see the doctor. She woke up warm. but not as hot as she was. I gave her some Tylenol and made an appt to see the doctor for 9:30. When we got to the office the nurse took her temp and it was 103.9 -- much higher than it had been even an hour ago. While waiting for the doctor, I noticed that her eyes were starting to glaze over a little and her head was dropping back. I was trying to get her attention, but she wouldn't respond to me. Her eyes then started rolling back and she back rigid and starting shaking. I screamed for someone to get a doctor and by the time a doctor came in (maybe 50 seconds) she was starting to come to. It took her another good minute to really seem normal and we started to undress her to get her cooler we noticed a rash ALL OVER HER BODY! The doctor said that could be happening because of the high fever and febrile seizure. Yes, she had just had a febrile seizure. I was aware of what they were because Drew had one as a baby, but he was w/ the sitter when it happened. This was the first time I've experienced it and it was one of the worst 50 seconds of my life. My doctors are so great and they hugged me and gave Emma some Motrin and just let us hang out in the room until we got the fever down. They also did a urine culture and it turns out that she has a UTI. As most of you know, she has kidney reflux so anytime she has a fever she needs to have her urine tested. Emma is on an antibiotic that she takes everyday to try to prevent the UTI's from breaking through. I'm embarrassed (and feel awful) to say that I was slacking off a little in giving it to her. It's so hard to remember the medicine when she isn't sick. I know that's not an excuse, and I feel so guilty because my baby is sick and it's my fault. Marie tried to make me feel better by saying that the infection still could have happened even if she got her medicine everyday, but we won't ever know. I admitted to the doctor that I hadn't been diligent about giving her the medicine and of course I started crying. She was so sweet - she hugged me and said we are all moms and sometimes things like that happen. She could have taken the other road and been very angry but she was great -- so sensitive to my feelings and the fact that I was beating myself up more than anyone else could. We need to give her Tylenol/Motrin every 3 hours to make sure her fever doesn't get that high. Other than that all we can do is wait for the new antibiotic to kick in. She is sleeping right now. When she wakes up I think I'll give her a cool bath. If I could, I would climb in her crib right now and snuggle her. I just don't want to let her go. I'm so thankful that she is going to be okay. I promise to make sure that she gets her antibiotic everyday. Thank you God for giving us another chance.

If another wants to comment on the awful things they have done as parents I would LOVE it!