What a grueling 12 days it’s been. After Avery received her two month vaccinations (see previous post) she became very ill. The first day was just me rocking her sad little body. The second day seemed like she was getting better – still sad and puny but less so. But on the third day her fever spiked to 102ºF. Since it was 8:00 at night, the only option was to take her to the Emergency Room. So I loaded up my sad baby girl and took her in. As she screamed during catheters, blood draws, and IVs my heart ached. It felt like such unnecessary pain to put my little nugget in. But it wasn’t until the preliminary test results came back with an abnormal white blood cell count that I understood that there was no other way for anyone to know what was hurting her. Due to the low white blood cells they had to do a spinal tap to check for Spinal Meningitis. This I had to leave the room for. There was no way I could watch it. I know that probably makes me a horrible mother. The doctors reassured me that she was at an age where she wouldn’t notice either way, and it would be more traumatic for me to stay. So I left. As soon as she was done I swooped in and cuddled her and we fell asleep at 11pm.
My baby girl on her hospital bed
Me and Avery waiting out the test results
At midnight I woke up to see our dear friend Kerry picking up Avery with tears in her eyes, navigating the tubes she was hooked up to, so compassionate and wanting to comfort her. At 1:30am the test results came back as negative for Meningitis. I finally got home at 2am – beyond exhausted.
Avery took the next 6 days to recover. She slowly started to eat more and sleep less. Her old personality and smiles began to emerge again. Things were getting back to normal. And then disaster struck in the form of a gnarly stomach flu that had settled in my gut. Oh lord, how I thought I was going to die. Or at least land myself in the hospital. Again Kerry and her wonderful husband David swooped in and took my precious baby girl to their house for the night – leaving me to rest alone. And how sweet the silence was. I slept 8 whole hours and woke up a new woman.
So here we are, the end of day 12. Avery seems to be at about 98% better – and I’m just about the same. Just in time for the weekend. And that’s how we like it.
Poor little one, glad she is doing good : )
p.s. I’m pretty sure I want this sweater from Pinterest http://pinterest.com/pin/157063105727012176/