Another First, But Not So Fun

Friday started like a normal day. Sera was a little whiny when she woke up, but she was soon laughing, then whining, then laughing. I even joked to Jim that she was a little bit of a Jekyll and Hyde that morning. When I picked her up after school, she was happy to see me as usual. I was told that she had been quieter than normal for the last hour though. We had to drop something off at a shop about 30 minutes in the opposite direction from home. Since Sera was acting tired, I hoped she'd nap. She didn't. She cried and fussed the whole way there. When we finally arrived, I got her out of her seat thinking something must be wrong. She laughed and played and was happy to be out. We thought she just didn't want to be in her car seat. We decided to stick with our original plan and stop for dinner. She was great through dinner. She ate a lot and only destroyed the normal amount of placemats (2) and creamers (1) and bowls of applesauce (1). She was fine the whole way home.

When we got home, I decided to take her temperature because Jim and I both thought she felt a little warm. I changed her into her pajamas and noticed her body was really hot, even though her face and head had just felt warm. Her temp was 103.8. I gave her some Tylenol and let her play in her room for a few minutes. After 20 minutes, I checked again - 104. I let her keep playing. She was acting fine, but I wanted to make sure her temp was going down before I put her in bed. After another 20 minutes, it was down to 102. Jim, in the meantime, is researching fevers and children before joining us. The rest of the night was us trying to get her to bed. Her temp was now completely gone, but she wouldn't sleep. We finally got her asleep about 10 pm. She woke screaming at 10:30. This was all so out of character. I went in her room and held her in the recliner. She went back to sleep, and I feel asleep until 11:30ish when she woke screaming again. This woke Jim who joined us in the nursery. We were both so bewildered and didn't know what to do. Her fever was gone, but something was obviously wrong. We decided to call her doctor's emergency number. Jim talked to the doctor on call who told us to take her to the emergency room. He said it was probably an ear, kidney, or urinary tract infection. We threw on shoes and bundled her up and headed out. The emergency room was not busy at all. Of course, her crying stopped the minute we took her out of the car in the hospital parking lot.

The on call doctor was right. She has an ear infection and a slightly red throat. We got a prescription for amoxycillin and instructions to switch off between Tylenol and Motrin as needed for the pain. Our nurse started chatting with us after giving her a dose of Motrin. He'd been adopted from Korea when he was five years old. He was brought to the US on a military transport and remembers the whole thing, including living in the orphanage. He seemed to be very happy with his experience. He was adopted through Holt and went back on an organized trip through them when he was 18, with other 18 year old adoptees. They visited the orphanage and toured the country. He'd last been back 8 years ago. He strongly recommended bringing Sera back when she was older. We told him we were planning to go back when she was around 12. I would have liked to talk to him more, but it was 2 am, and we were all exhausted.

When we got home, we put Sera in her crib and collapsed. She woke at 4 am and slept with me in the recliner until 6:30 am. I then put her back in the crib and came to bed. She would not settle down, so Jim got up to be with her. Apparently, when she's sick, only mama will do. He ended up bringing her to our room. We gave her some Tylenol and all fell back asleep. This was the first time Sera has ever fallen asleep in our bed, and we all slept for a few more hours. When we woke again, Jim headed out to get her prescription filled. Sera and I dozed and watched TV until he returned. He bought all her favorites to tempt her while she's sick: grapes, bananas, orange sherbet, orange juice, and Golden Grahams. We then had the longest day of my life. Sera would go from fine to screaming in no time. The pain relievers were barely making it the two hours needed before the next dose. I remembered that I had some prescription ear drops to numb her ears. I got them for China, but never used them. I called my sister, who is a pharmacist, to make sure it'd be okay to use them. She said definitely. They couldn't hurt her in any way. The drops worked, but only for two hours at a time. She napped for one hour. We dosed her up again, and she napped for a second hour. I could only sleep when she slept. I didn't sleep two solid hours in a row all night or day.

Last night, she would not go to sleep in her crib. She screamed and screamed. I kept going in there and stroking her back. She had taken her medicine just before bed and would stop screaming when I walked in the room, so I knew she wasn't hurting anymore. We finally broke and brought her in our room. We were still doing the meds every two hours bit. She hadn't eated much at dinner and started signing she was hungry. Jim kept going downstairs and coming back with a new offering. She'd take one bite and reject it crying. She finally ate a slice of American cheese and a few snap pea crisps. We finally gave up. We just turned off the lights and all went night-night. She woke two hours later screaming. I gave her more meds, and she slept until 7 am. Hallelujah! It wasn't unbroken. She did wake a few times and cry out, but we were able to settle her down each time rather quickly. Jim and I woke with backaches, headaches, and just generally exhausted. We agreed that co-sleeping is not for us. We couldn't move the whole night long. We had the dog across our feet and her between us. She kept alternating between us for snuggles or was lying spreadeagle across the middle. We hugged our respective sides giving her room.

Shadow was great with her all night long. He slept across the foot of the bed, which protected her from moving down there and rolling off. In fact, she almost did that when I woke up at midnight to get her meds. I'd sent him off the bed when I woke and realized he'd climbed in with us. While I was sitting up and putting on my glasses, she'd managed to roll all the way down the bed. I caught her mid-roll as she was going off the edge. Just that quick! She also realized last night that Shadow has eyes, a nose, a mouth, and ears, too. He lay there as she poked and yelled out each body part. I think this is her revenge for all the full body licks he's gotten in.

She was acting sleepy again around 8:30ish. I put her in her crib, she cried and being left alone, and then fell asleep. Yay! It's now 11 am, and she's been napping for just over two hours. I think she's more comfortable in her own bed, too.

I am so glad to have a sister and brother-in-law who are pharmacists. It sure comes in handy being able to call them whenever we have a question. It really came in handy yesterday. Besides the ear numbing drops, I had a question about the Motrin. I had never needed to even open it before. The few times I had given Sera Tyelnol she hadn't even needed a second dose, much less the switching between every two hours. The emergency room doctor had told me to give her a teaspoon of the Motrin. I had misplaced the dispenser that came with it and was going to use a different one. I read the bottle label. It said to give her 1.8 ml. The dispenser was labelled for both ml and teaspoons. I realized that a teaspoon was 5 ml. Far more than the the instructions called for. I didn't give any to Sera until I talked to my sister. I had the concentrated infant drops, not regular Motrin. If I'd followed the doctor's instructions exactly, we would have overdosed her on Motrin and probably ended up back in the hospital. Always question!!

Now for those of you who've stuck with this long post, here's a little funny I found on another blog. We need a laugh today and a nap. Click the picture to find the blog it came from.