Shudder
Briony got sick today.She was running a slight fever last night around 11 pm and I gave her meds for it, but she woke up a few times between 11 pm and 3 am before finally settling down until 8 am this morning. She woke up with a definite fever, so I gave her meds again and she napped for most of the morning.
Just after lunchtime, she started shivering and shaking and I noticed her lips, feet, and hands were turning a greyish blue colour. I called Geoff at work and then Healthlinks. While I was on the phone with them, I checked her temperature again and it had suddenly spiked very, very high - like in the course of less than ten minutes - and she started to really scream. The Healthlinks nurse told me to hang up and call 911. So I did.
The ambulance was here *so* fast. From the time I dialed 911 to the time there was a fire truck and an ambulance on the street and six strangers in my house, it was less than three minutes. Kind of reassuring, actually. I kept on expecting someone - the 911 operator, the paramedics, ANYONE - to tell me that I was being a hysterical first time mother and that she'd be fine, but before I knew it we were in an ambulance and then pulling up at the Children's Hospital emergency department.
We spent around six hours in Emergency today. Geoff was able to come and meet the ambulance when it arrived and stayed until we had seen the pediatrician. I called my parents, so I was only alone for maybe 30 minutes between Geoff returning to his ward and their arrival. Plus the all the scary ambulance stuff, of course. I could have happily lived to be seven hundred years old without ever experiencing an ambulance ride with my child.
My sweet Briony screamed almost straight through from those first phone calls until well after my parents arrived. It broke my heart into about a thousand tiny pieces. And then those pieces were ground down to powder during all the tests... I think I'll need therapy for every horrible mommy thing I had to experience today. After all the tests were over, Briony wouldn't even come to me anymore - she was so mad at me for holding her down and letting the nurses do all those things to her. She's over it now, but it broke my heart.
In the end, the x-rays were clear (YAY) but her blood and urine showed that she's fighting an infection. We're finally back at home now, and her fever started to climb a little bit again - but she's on antibiotics now and we're keeping a close eye on things. Geoff has already called in and cancelled his shift for tomorrow.
It was a scary, tough day.
She's sleeping now, and Geoff + I are EXHAUSTED and ready to call it a night too. I can't relax yet... I made a little bed on her bedroom floor. I'm sure that parents become somewhat less psychotic once they've had another child (or two or ten), but there is only one Briony in this world. And I love her very much and I'm still worried about her.
Labels: Briony, Mommy Stuff
posted by Lindsay @ 11:56 PM
6 Comments:
Sleeping on the floor of a sick child's room is definitely NOT the wrong thing to do or a strange thing to do - I think most mothers have done that. Hope all continues to get better for Briony.
Oh Lindsay, how awful. Hopefully today she shows signs of being her usual healthy self. I don't envy you having to go through all of that - stay strong and you do whatever you feel is right. Momma knows best!
I wouldn't care what anyone else thought, I'd be sleeping on her floor too! You totally did the right thing, I sure hope she gets better soon!
Yay...you all survived this crisis and you did just right. Briony is allowed to act a bit 'neurotic' when she is ill. Just think that all of those screams were keeping her lungs clear and you aware that she was sort of OK. Chalk it up to new experiences for everyone:)Hope you got some sleep or get a nap today while Geoff is home.
Hugs to Baby B.
Oh, and Scarlett's floor is laminate so I usually just haul her into my bed during those rough days (either hers or mine :). Never saw myself as one of those people that would haul their kid into bed, but there's something really, really cute about waking up to a little girl pulling your eyelid open and saying "Hi Mom."
Your last paragraph brought me to tears... there is only one of every child... and each one is infinately precious. I would totally camp out on my child's floor too. I'm so sorry to hear of your experience. I know how it can rip your heart apart when your baby is crying, and you can't help them (James, stitches in the head at age 1 1/2). It hurts. SO very glad that she's doing better.
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