I seem to be on an approximately once-a-month blogging schedule, if by "schedule" you mean "almost completely random occurrence". I've never had any real long-term success on anything resembling journalling (if that's a word), so I suppose it should come as no surprise, especially when you add in the very large factor of a very small person in my life. I must also say that since I seldom get any comments, it very much feels like I'm talking to myself. Not that I have any philosophical problem with that - after all, I've been told that most intelligent people do talk to themselves, on a fairly regular basis. But seriously, I can do that, without posting it on the internet. (:
Really, though, I would say that KatyBeth is really the largest factor. She's a good toddler, but she's bright, energetic, and inquisitive, and has a fascination with Mommy and Daddy's computers, which of course, she's not allowed to play with. We have slightly fewer problems with that, now that she has her own little toy laptop, that her aunt and uncle gave her (along with a really nifty box, with lots of brightly-colored tissue paper filler), for her birthday, but she's not an easily-distracted child. In fact, she's often rather single-minded. Her little stubborn streak gets worse when she's tired, and doesn't really know what she wants. Fairly typical toddler, in that way. (:
Anyway, last week was especially crazy. It started out with taking Arazyr to the airport, on Sunday night, as he headed out on a business trip. In the middle of the day Monday, a friend of mine came over to hang out and spend the night. We did tag-team watching of KatyBeth, chatted, worked on write-ups for VOX, ate cookies, and generally had fun. The help meant I actually got a few things done, too! My friend left on Tuesday afternoon, and I got to juggle Baby Girl by myself until it was time to go get Arazyr, on Wednesday night. His plane was due in shortly before 10pm. At around 8pm, I discovered that KatyBeth was running a mild fever (99.6 F [that's about 37.5 C, for those who don't do imperial measurements]). I also realized at that point that she had been sleeping more than usual, during the day, and that she really hadn't been that interested in solid food. Now, I happened to know that she was teetering on the brink of cutting her top front teeth, so a mild fever, fatigue, and not wanting to eat didn't seem all that odd. She had no other symptoms, so I gave her a very small dose of baby Tylenol, put her in the car, and went to go get Arazyr. While I did not even come close to panicking, I was, of course, concerned enough to take the precaution of taking extra care in making sure she was bundled up warmly. This was enough of a distraction that I forgot to double-check the contents of the diaper bag, such that I did not have:
Luckily, none of these omissions ended up being fatal (though the "no knitting" thing came close), and we got ourselves home successfully.
Thursday, KatyBeth's sleepiness/lack of appetite continued. Late in the afternoon, she felt warm enough that I took her temperature... 102.7 (39.3 C)! I called the pedatrician's office. They were booked solid, and couldn't see her. A nurse recommended I take her to the emergency room. I IM'd Arazyr, and took KB to the local urgent care. We got to see a doctor actually rather quickly, but her very limited symptoms didn't leave them much to work with. They took a urine sample by bag (the weren't set up to catheter someone her size), to check for a UT infection (we spent more than an hour in that little room, just waiting for her to pee). The test came up with nothing, and because of the method of collection, the sample wasn't suitable for a culture. Since her fever was coming down, after they gave her some baby Tylenol, and she seemed alert and happy, the doctor told me it should be safe to take her home, and follow up with her regular doctor, in the morning, but that I should keep an eye on her overnight, and if she seemed to be getting worse, there might yet be an trip to the emergency room in my evening. "Make sure they see her", she said, of our doctor's office. So, we ended up leaving, some two hours after we arrived, with a diagnosis of "fever of unknown origin". Not exactly something to set a mother's mind at ease, even though I knew they'd done the best they could. Anyway, Friday morning, I called the doctor again. The nurse I talked to this time said, "it's probably viral, which would mean there's nothing we'd be able to do... You could give her some Tylenol, and wait to see what happens... Do you still want to bring her in?" I was incredulous, especially since I had mentioned that the urgent care doctor said to follow up, that day. "Um... YES!" was the only response I could manage. KB's regular doctor was not available, but one of the other doctors in the practice had an opening, shortly before lunch time. Between when I called, and when I took her in, I noticed a large smattering of reddish spots forming on her belly and back. Turns out that the appearance of the rash was the diagnostic key. Roseola. I was much relieved that the doctor immediately had a name for it, and assured me it was a common thing in children about her age, and generally not particularly serious. She also said that she was likely no longer contagious, and that we could be fairly sure of that, once she'd been without a fever for 24 hours (conventional wisdom). So, it all ended well. We didn't even have to cancel our Saturday plans to get together with some friends we hadn't seen in a while.
Interesting side note - at urgent care, it was discovered that not only is she teething - she's cutting ALL FOUR top front teeth at ONCE!
So, that was most of last week. I think I'll pick up with Saturday evening, in another post... hopefully before next month.