Sick day

Yesterday, after I picked Jennifer up from school, she seemed to be in a good mood and being her regular self. She was hungry, as usual, and requested pancakes and a bowl of cereal to eat as she watched a Miss Spider's Sunny Patch movie she got from the library. But not too long afterwards, she came up to me as I sat on the couch and said, "I feel different." I had no idea what she meant. She asked me to set up her blanket on the couch so she could wrap herself up in it, because she was cold. She kept putting her arms around herself and pretending to shiver to let me know she was very cold.

She fell asleep for a little while. Earlier in the day, I'd decided we'd have chicken noodle soup for dinner because I was too sick to make anything else but now I figured it was probably best to make some since Jennifer was so cold. It would help warm her up. So when she woke up to go to the bathroom, I started up the soup and I tried to keep her awake so she could eat some. She was still shivering and complaining of not feeling very well. I put on one of her movies, hoping it would keep her awake. It was Alice in Wonderland. She complained that the sound from the movie was hurting her head so, for a while, she watched it with the volume muted. I kept noticing she was sniffing her nose a lot and breathing with her mouth open. When the soup was ready, I tried to get her to eat some of it, even telling her I would feed it to her, but she just wouldn't eat any of it. By now, she was feeling miserable. She had a distant look in her eyes and I noticed her eyes were watery. I kept the lights low because they hurt her eyes.

At one point, hubby felt her forehead and frowned. I asked him if it was warm and he said, "Of course." So I suggested we take her temperature. It was 103!! Hubby got her some Children's Tylenol but she took A LOT of coaxing to take her medicine. She managed to take one but stalled with the other two chewable tablets left to take. At one point, she dropped them and as I searched for them on the couch, my hand brushed against her bare stomach and I gasped. She was BURNING UP!! I told hubby and we helped her to dress down to her underpants. She was on fire all over and not just her stomach. We managed to get her to take the rest of the medicine. She asked for the sound to be turned back on on the TV so she could watch her movie. I guess that was a good sign?

Sometimes, she fell asleep and slept for a while. She was still not eating her soup, though, and I was worried her chills were still bothering her or how she was sleeping on an empty stomach. (I BARELY touched my own soup at this point. I was so worried about her.) She DID drink some Gatorade we had in the fridge. That's about it, though. When she slept, I'd walk around the house, just wracked with worry. I kept praying, "Please, God. Please help my baby."

Eventually, she woke up again to go to the bathroom. When she came out, she was crying. She was feeling SO miserable. Everything hurt. She was complaining about body aches and her head still bothering her. Hubby said if her fever didn't go down in an hour or two, we'd take her to the ER. When her movie was over, I drew her a lukewarm bath. She couldn't walk too comfortably, though, so hubby carried her into the bathroom and helped her undress and get in the bathtub. (She was wobbily when she stood up and still burning with fever.) We took turns sitting with her in the bathroom. As I sat with her, I tried to think what could be causing her to be so sick. Was it something she ate? Did she catch something at school? I asked her if any of the children in her class were sick and she said, "Everybody's sick." (I kinda doubted this. Would EVERY one of those children's parents send them to school sick?...) After some time in the bathtub, she seemed to be a little more animated and coherent. She even asked for warmer water. She said she was feeling hungry now but also sleepy.

After she got out of the tub, we checked her temperature again. It had gone down to 100. I warmed up her soup and sat with her at the table while she ate. She only took a couple of bites, though, before saying she was full. She was really tired and wanted to go back to sleep. She kissed me goodnight then walked back to the couch to go to sleep.

While she slept, I stayed with her, occasionally studying her face. She seemed to be peaceful as she slept. Hubby checked her temperature after an hour had passed and it was now 99 degrees. "What do you want to do?" I asked. It wasn't a normal temp but at least it was lower. He said we'll just keep an eye on her temperature. He'd set the alarm for 3 a.m. then check it again. He carried her to her bed and I got online to send an email to one of my sisters about what was going on. I hated it that I had to let someone in the family know about what was going on this way, but that's what happens when you've got family living in two different other states! Still, I was upset about it. What if something REALLY bad happened to Jennifer?? They'd have no way of knowing unless I got through to them about it. Just that day, one of my sisters had told me how she wished she could be more of a part of Jennifer's life. I wanted that, too. I wanted Jennifer to grow up visiting her grandparents, aunts and uncles more often than just twice a year. I tried to push these thoughts away but the sadness still lingered. If something REALLY bad happened to Jennifer, I just knew they'd feel upset over not having more time with her before it happened. She's just a little kid, too. It's not fair!

After I was done, I went to bed. I checked the time before I lied down. It was 12:30 a.m.

I was awakened 45 minutes later to see Jennifer standing by my bed, with her gown off. "I threw up," she said. I sat up and looked out the bedroom door to see hubby going back and forth in and out of her room, cleaning up the mess on her bed. Since he was taking care of that, I focused my attention on Jennifer. I felt her forehead; it was slightly warm. She was breathing with her mouth open again but she appeared to be cleaned off. I invited her to lie down in my bed with me and while we cuddled up together, I asked her how she was feeling. She said she was feeling okay. She didn't appear too warm but hubby still checked her temp. It was 98. He also brought her a clean nightgown to put on. He helped her back to bed, assuring her he had cleaned it all up. Changed her sheets and everything. He'd even sprayed her room with disinfectant. She slept through the rest of the night without trouble.

Last night I'd decided I was going to keep her home from school today. She looked forward to getting some extra sleep when I told her that. (She knows how important it is to get lots of rest when someone is sick.) I also told hubby that if she was still sick by Saturday, I'd cancel her baptismal scheduled for the following Sunday. With school, I wasn't going to budge. It's just too risky sending a child to school if they are even a little sick. Viruses and germs can spread and get the other children sick. Especially when it comes to children this young (5-6). I told Jennifer she could spend time with me in my bed and I'd read her storybooks and just be with her. She could take naps and color in her coloring book. She liked THAT idea. She loves sleeping in my big bed. Before her dad and I got back together again, she always slept in my bed with me. It was more of a security thing than anything else.

This morning, at 8:20, hubby checked her temperature again. It was 99.8. I frowned; how long before her temp got back down to normal? She seemed to be sleeping okay but I am still going to keep an eye on her. It's a good thing hubby bought us new cell phones last night; we're keeping the phones close in case an emergency comes up. I told him I'd let him know if Jennifer got feverish again today. This time, if her condition gets worse again, I'm not going to wait it out but get her to the ER.