There are so many joys of parenting...holding a bowl so your child can vomit into it is not one of them. Neither is watching your child fight the misery of the flu. Ella caught one of those nasty little bugs and it really did a number on her. She got sick yesterday afternoon and by evening had thrown-up so many times that I had to take her into Urgent Care because I was starting to worry about dehydration. She was so listless and it was obvious that this "bug" was starting to take a toll on her. The urgent care doc talked with us just long enough to tell us that he was calling ahead to the ER to have us go in and get looked at. Dad stayed home with Ben while I took Ella-boo to Mercy ER. I was hoping the "calling ahead" would work some magic and that we wouldn't have to wait to terribly long. Unfortunately, more critical cases came in and we constantly got further down the "waiting for a room" list. After throwing up all over me and soaking all our clothes, we finally made it to a room after a 2.5 hour wait. It took another hour or so for a doctor to actually come in and talk to us. We tried oral fluids for a while and once she finally went potty, we got the okay to go home. Just as I put the last button in her jammies through the hole, it happened again. Yep, we were soaked again...this time they brought us hospital clothes to put on. Wow, those scrubs are not really all that flattering...especially when they are at least 10 sizes too big. Ella got a beautiful gown with 2 ties in the back for her dry ensemble. The doctor informed us that we had just bought a ticket to IV Therapy. It was 3am at this point, Ella was exhausted, I was tired, and now we had to get her hooked up to the IV pump. As a mother, it's hard to watch your child get poked with a sharp needle, watching your face wondering why you aren't stopping it. As a mother who went through numerous months of IV Theraphy during my pregnancy, all those yucky feelings came rushing back. I knew exactly what she was feeling and going through. My heart just ached for her. It was a sureal feeling listing to the pump and being awoken by the blasted thing beeping. She got her hydration and by 6am, we were finally set free. Free to go home, free to get some much needed rest, free to change into comfortable dry clothes, and free to put that yucky night behind us.
Ella is doing much better today, but the toll of staying up all night long is catching up with us. Jason stayed home from work today because I knew I couldn't possibly function on only 1 hour of sleep and manage to take care of two little ones and do it with any amount of patience or grace. Top everything off, now he is feeling the effects of that friendly "bug" that has taken up residence in our house.
Although it wasn't any fun to go through the ER experience, it was such was a reminder of how blessed we are. I thanked God many times last night for the blessing of health, of medical advances that make it possible to help my daughter feel better, of kind doctors that work at 3am in the morning while the rest of the world sleeps, of a quiet, soft, and warm bedroom to come home to and rest, and of the bond between a parent and child...that makes it impossible to do anything but fight fiercly for the ones you love.
Thank you to everyone who was busy praying for Ella last night. God was truly watching over us.
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