Kendra's First ER Trip :(

I have always known that Kendra was going to be the child who would most likely break a few bones throughout her childhood. She is adventurous, daring and has no fear. Not good qualities when you are 2 1/2 and don't know any better. I figured between her and Jax that she is going to be the child to keep me up at night worrying more.

Well, Friday morning we made our first trip to the ER with her. Not for any of the above reasons, though.

So, Friday morning she woke up whiny, but that has been a constant theme for her (she is 2 1/2, remember?!). She wouldn't eat but she had just woken up so I chalked it up to that. She perked up a bit, and was acting like her normal self. I figured the whining could just be attributed to the fact that I had to wake her up to get ready to take Jax to preschool.

We were almost to preschool when she started squirming in her seat and complaining about wanting out. Once again, all normal behavior. By the time we got to preschool she was crying. We walked Jaxson in and as he ran off to greet his friends I pulled her into my arms to talk to her. I felt her head and she didn't feel warm but she was shuddering. I set her down for a minute to tell the teacher something and when I turned around she had thrown up all over. :(  I helped her clean up and apologized. I didn't want everyone thinking I intentionally brought my sick daughter in and exposed everyone.

By this point all she wanted was to be held. We got in the car with the intention of going straight home.

She fell asleep which I considered a blessing, because she seemed exhausted. She got sick on the way home and I had to pull over and pull her out but it was too late.

When we got home she was shuddering and complaining about being cold. She came in the house and laid down on the floor and instantly was out. She kept kind of waking up and then going back to sleep. I let her rest for awhile, but was starting to feel uneasy. I took her temp and let me just say it was sky high! It must have peaked really quickly, because she was not warm at all just an hour before.  I gave her tylenol but she instantly threw it up.

I tried to wake her up and she just wouldn't really come to. She was responsive, but very lethargic. Her eyes were glassy and she wouldn't move. I didn't even hesitate, I just loaded her in the car. Normally, when my kids are sick I let it kind of play out and try not to over react. Because, there have so many times I was sure my kids were super sick and then I get to the doctor and they act perfectly fine and then I feel kinda silly. But, this was so different. I had never seen her like this before. The fact that she had a very high fever, couldn't stay awake and couldn't keep anything down and that it all happened in the matter of an hour, was enough to make me take her right in.

Her fever had gone done some by the time we got into the triage room, but she was still so lethargic and wouldn't talk or move. They got her settled in a room while we went through everything. They tried to give her Zofran which would dissolve under her tongue, but she wasn't having anything to do with it. She is like her momma, when she is sick she wants to be left alone and if she isn't she gets MAD. I had called Brandon to come to the ER, because I didn't want to be alone. He showed up as we were struggling to get her to take the meds. She took one look at daddy and started crying and held out her arms. He got her to take it right away. As soon as it took effect we were able to start meds for the fever.  In the meantime, they wanted a urine sample. That is difficult on a dehydrated not potty-trained child. They said they would have to use a catheter. I started crying. I had to step out of the room and leave Brandon with her. I knew I would lose it and make it worse on her but I felt horrible for not being there. Que the momma guilt x 100!

 

As soon as her fever broke she started to feel better. She sat up and even drank some water. She was still refusing juice and Popsicles and they were concerned about getting fluids in her. The doctor kind of laughed that she refused all the sweet stuff and just wanted plain water. 

They determined that she had a double ear infection (her first ever!) that had been brewing for some time but that she had shown no signs or symptoms until it got really bad. I honestly would have never known. She never complains of anything and hadn't shown any signs up until that morning. I felt so bad thinking that I somehow missed something and this whole thing could have been prevented. They said she probably has a very high pain tolerance and that her little body all of a sudden couldn't handle it when the fever got so high.

By the time we got home she was already acting so much better and by mid afternoon, the fever was gone she was no longer nauseous, she was eating and drinking and wanting to play.

It was such a scary morning and so strange that she went from fine to really sick to fine again all in the matter of five hours!