Right its 5 in the evening. Abby is napping in a room filled with vapor steam and vicks fumes, Jake is snoring in the next bedroom over..all sprawled out across our bed. Its oddly quiet in here. The apartment is a disaster, I haven't showered, and there are dried ramen noodles from lunch stuck to the kitchen table. We also have NOTHING to make for dinner. There are so many things I could and should be doing right now. But instead? I'm stuck. Right here in my high school gym shorts under my electric blanket and cup of coffee in my hand. Snow is on the ground, its freezing..and I am lazy. It has been a long couple of days around these parts.
It all started on Thursday. We got our first big snow of the year, Jake and I were taking Abby over to my mom's house to play in the snow with her and my little brother. Right before we were about to head out I noticed that Ab's head felt slightly warm, and that she was acting a little lethargic. Decided to check her temp - 101.0. Crap. It was all down hill from there. She suddenly developed a whopping cough and became miserable. It creeped up on her out of no where. I was worried since Jake had just gotten over step throat, so we headed to our local emergency department.
After spending 3 hours cooping up in a little pediatric waiting room with four other sick kids, one of which who threw up all over the floor..we finally got a room and saw a doctor. He assured me that it was almost unheard of for kids as young as Abby to get strep throat. He diagnosed her with a common cold and encouraged us to keep up with the Motrin.
The next couple nights are a complete blur. We spent our time high off of Vicks fumes, squirting Ibuprofen every 4 hours on the dot, forcing pedialite down, walking back and forth between her bedroom and the steamy bathroom. I camped out on her bedroom floor, she slept with us..we have all been exhausted. Her cough kept getting worse and she was regularly spiking a fever. When she was sleeping you could hear her lungs rattling in her back, she was so miserable and my mommy instincts kept telling me something else was going on.
Yesterday I made her an appointment with nighttime pediatrics. Jackie came with us for moral support and to "play Daddy for the night" as she says since Jake was busy. The pediatrician there did tell me that it is unlikely for someone her age to get strep, but he went ahead and did a test anyways. He listened to her lungs and thought that she probably had developed a little bit of croup and was going to give her a shot of steroids. But guess what? The strep test came back POSITIVE. Just goes to show that mommy knows best! It was my gut feeling from the start and I should have demanded a strep test that night in the ER, but oh well..now I know.
My poor, poor girl has been so sick and its absolutely broken my heart. But with a good teaspoon of penicillin last night and a little bit of Motrin, she was already feeling 100x better. Jackie and Whitney came over last night to visit and my little miss stayed up until almost midnight playing with the girls. She slept through the night and finally got some good rest that she really, really needed.
It had been a rough couple of days but just seeing how much better Ab felt already, and having my girls over until 4am laughing and gossiping was the perfect pick me up.
They say that this is when its rough. This is when its hard and when you want to run away and cry. But honestly? It hasn't felt that way for me. Maybe I'm just super mom or something (hehe) but it just felt so normal and natural to take care of her. I knew what she needed, and I knew how to do it. My heart instantly grew two sizes when my little on the go toddler snuggled up on my chest for two hours. And when she fell asleep in my arms. And when she let me rock her. I was sad that she felt so bad, but this is just what I do. I am Mama. And Mama knows and can conquer all :)
Today has been good. Abby feels SO much better already. My Grandma stopped by to check on her today and she ran around and played and couldn't wait to show Meme all of her toys. & I just have to add that my Grandma went to sit on a stool, and totally fell off and took a doozy on Abby's bedroom floor. We both burst out with laughter, and I literally had tears running down my cheeks. Poor Abby looked traumatized. But god, I love laughing like that. Especially with my beloved Grandma.
Now? I really should shower, and I really should figure out what we're gonna eat for dinner. So, sinara for now!
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