We had our first experience with an ear infection over the weekend. And it was awful!
I picked sweet Neva up from Becca's on Friday, because she had a small fever. We went to the pediatrician, confirmed the ear infection, picked up some antibiotics and were on our merry way. As the night progressed, she didn't eat much and was hard to calm. Honestly, I thought that would be the worst of it.
About 2 hours after we put her down for the night, she woke up SCREAMING. This is unusual for her as she typically sleeps through the night. We took her temp at it was high, at 104.7. We tried Tylenol, she threw it up. Temp climbed to 105.1. We tried a dose of Advil, more barfing. And her temperature climbed to 105.7 I'm sure most of this was due to all the crying and screaming, but it scared the pants of me. We tried cooling her temperature with ice cold wash cloths on her tiny little body...nothing was working and this mama was getting scared.
We ran to the ER because frankly, we didn't know what else to do. Eric drove faster than he probably ever should have. And Neva didn't seem to care or feel too badly any longer. Her temp got down to 103 and she was in a relatively good mood once we finally arrived. We were told that all the rooms were full and there were at least 5 people in front of us and that we would just have to WAIT. My heart was still racing and I again explained that her temperature was over 105. Isn't that concerning???
Neva quickly made friends with a little gal in the waiting room. She was speaking Spanish to Neva, but with reminders from her Mom, would say the same thing in English. It really was cute to watch these two little ladies interact, not caring that they weren't speaking the same language. They looked at the fish together, played with our thermometer, talked about what they say...it was awesome.
I fumed and fumed about how long it was taking and wondering if I needed to worry about Neva's perfect little brain frying...and 2 hours later we saw the triage nurse. She informed us that with a temperature that high, we would have to wait to see the doc...even though her temp had come down to 101. She just didn't feel comfortable letting us go with her fever getting that high. She sent us back to the waiting room to sit...and wait some more. She came back eventually and told us we were free to go, we had done everything right and if her fever got high again...to do the exact same thing. Great.
Luckily, it didn't happen again.
I learned a lot about myself this weekend. Mostly that I don't function very well in stressful situations when it comes to Neva. I was a hot mess most of the weekend. Also, kids cry and scream A LOT when they're in pain. That's not my favorite thing in the whole world But mostly, I learned that I'd rather spend a day holding Neva and letting her cry and scream at me than to have to rush her to the ER on a regular basis.
For many of the families that I work with, this is a very common occurrence. This is their normal. I can't imagine being in that situation I thought about these families as we sat and waited for someone to help us. What would they do? How do they handle just waiting? It amazes me. Parents of kids with special needs, delays or developmental disabilities are amazing people. They may be difficult and challenging at times, but wouldn't you be too? Wouldn't you just want the best for your kid? Wouldn't you want to do everything in your power to make it all okay? Isn't that just part of being a parent?
I swear, I won't take this for granted ever again. She is amazing. We are blessed, truly blessed. And I love her with my whole heart.
I picked sweet Neva up from Becca's on Friday, because she had a small fever. We went to the pediatrician, confirmed the ear infection, picked up some antibiotics and were on our merry way. As the night progressed, she didn't eat much and was hard to calm. Honestly, I thought that would be the worst of it.
About 2 hours after we put her down for the night, she woke up SCREAMING. This is unusual for her as she typically sleeps through the night. We took her temp at it was high, at 104.7. We tried Tylenol, she threw it up. Temp climbed to 105.1. We tried a dose of Advil, more barfing. And her temperature climbed to 105.7 I'm sure most of this was due to all the crying and screaming, but it scared the pants of me. We tried cooling her temperature with ice cold wash cloths on her tiny little body...nothing was working and this mama was getting scared.
We ran to the ER because frankly, we didn't know what else to do. Eric drove faster than he probably ever should have. And Neva didn't seem to care or feel too badly any longer. Her temp got down to 103 and she was in a relatively good mood once we finally arrived. We were told that all the rooms were full and there were at least 5 people in front of us and that we would just have to WAIT. My heart was still racing and I again explained that her temperature was over 105. Isn't that concerning???
Neva quickly made friends with a little gal in the waiting room. She was speaking Spanish to Neva, but with reminders from her Mom, would say the same thing in English. It really was cute to watch these two little ladies interact, not caring that they weren't speaking the same language. They looked at the fish together, played with our thermometer, talked about what they say...it was awesome.
I fumed and fumed about how long it was taking and wondering if I needed to worry about Neva's perfect little brain frying...and 2 hours later we saw the triage nurse. She informed us that with a temperature that high, we would have to wait to see the doc...even though her temp had come down to 101. She just didn't feel comfortable letting us go with her fever getting that high. She sent us back to the waiting room to sit...and wait some more. She came back eventually and told us we were free to go, we had done everything right and if her fever got high again...to do the exact same thing. Great.
Luckily, it didn't happen again.
I learned a lot about myself this weekend. Mostly that I don't function very well in stressful situations when it comes to Neva. I was a hot mess most of the weekend. Also, kids cry and scream A LOT when they're in pain. That's not my favorite thing in the whole world But mostly, I learned that I'd rather spend a day holding Neva and letting her cry and scream at me than to have to rush her to the ER on a regular basis.
For many of the families that I work with, this is a very common occurrence. This is their normal. I can't imagine being in that situation I thought about these families as we sat and waited for someone to help us. What would they do? How do they handle just waiting? It amazes me. Parents of kids with special needs, delays or developmental disabilities are amazing people. They may be difficult and challenging at times, but wouldn't you be too? Wouldn't you just want the best for your kid? Wouldn't you want to do everything in your power to make it all okay? Isn't that just part of being a parent?
I swear, I won't take this for granted ever again. She is amazing. We are blessed, truly blessed. And I love her with my whole heart.
