ER

OK, so that was scary. Around 1 a.m. Almi woke up screaming out. She often cries in her sleep but this was louder and woke her up. She was in pain. I picked her up and she was extremely hot to the touch. I thought she might be running a fever but her ears were still cool. I read somewhere that if your ears are still cool you aren't running a fever but she seemed extremely hot so I looked for the baby thermometer. I put it under her arm and it read 100.8. I figured I could give her some Infant Tylenol or Motrin, both of which I have, but they had recently been recalled. So what should I do if I couldn't give her medicine? I looked on the internet and it said I could give her a sponge bath. I brought a warm washcloth into bed and tried that but she was very uncomfortable. So I called a friend. One without kids. What was I thinking? He was no help. So I called my neighbor. She has a 3 year old. But she didn't pick up her home phone or her cell. So I called my doctor. I felt a bit silly actually but she also was having a lot of trouble breathing and, frankly, I was worried.

The pediatrician called me right back and told me to get some generic brand of acetaminophen, but if the breathing didn't improve to take her in to urgent care. It was 1:30 in the morning and I couldn't send hubby out to get the meds (damn, where the hell is he??) so I packed up my sick little girl and took her with me to CVS. Poor thing. I gave her some and she went back to sleep. She woke up a few more times in the night crying out but slept fairly well, considering.

Around 6:45am she woke up crying again and I took her temperature again. It had come down to 99.8 but her breathing was no better so I took her to urgent care at Children's Hospital. Would you believe they weren't open? Wouldn't you expect urgent care at a hospital to be open 24 hours? Well, they're not. They keep business hours: 8-4. It was 7:25. I was exhausted so I asked the guard if I was reading the hours right. I was, but he suggested I take her to the emergency room triage to see if they'd admit her since there wasn't one single patient in there. I didn't think it was an emergency but they had the staffing and the time to examine her. They actually did go ahead and admit her (as an outpatient) once they heard her breathing. One thing I hadn't thought about was the co-pay. It's $50 in the emergency room but she's worth it. She was diagnosed with croup, given some steroids and they sent us on our way.

She's doing better now, though still cranky and wanting to be held non-stop, but she's eating like a champ and back to her mischievous antics so I am no longer terribly concerned.