104 at 6am

Not fun for Boos. Or Boo Mamas. Yesterday she had a temp of 101, so I gave her Tylenol and then Motrin alternating every 2 hours. She was complaining of a tummy ache, and she threw up once. All over her new ($30 silk-Grandma!!) play skirt. She's been pretty clingy and whiny. It's hard not to get annoyed when she cries over the littlest things. But otherwise, she's been such a good girl. 

But this morning, she woke up around 6am (she was laying down in my bed with me while Todd was at work). She was whining and she got up to go to the bathroom. I heard her crying in the bathroom so I got up and came in with her. She asked me for a drink of milk, so I went and got her cup of juice out of the fridge. She drank that down like she had been in the hot desert for 3 days with no water. And then she asked for some more and drank half of that down. She gave me a big hug and that's when I realized she wasn't doing so well. She was super hot to the touch. I checked her temp. 104. 

Ok, breathe. 

I called Todd, let him know what was going on. I gave her some Tylenol and then drew a cool bath for her. It was actually lukewarm, but for her it was ice cold. For anyone who has never done this before, this is one of the most common, but one of the worst things in the world for a parent. The dreaded cool bath. Todd had to do this with Ava when she was sick with RSV when she was almost a year old. I was at a wedding and she had a temp of 105. He told me he had to hold her down in the water while she screamed and cried. He cried too. 

So, I explained to her as best as I could what was going on. I told her that her skin is really really hot and I need to cool it down. I told her it would make her really sick if her skin got any hotter, so she needed to get in the cool bath to cool down. She seemed to understand, but that all went away when she actually got in there. She couldn't even sit down because it was too cold. And you can't force a 3.5 year old to sit down. Not in a slippery bath anyway. So, I just took a Tupperware bowl, filled it with the water and poured it over her. And the screaming began. She looked at me like I was a horrible human being for doing this to her. She couldn't understand why I was doing this. But I kept doing it. Just pouring it over her body, her head. I can usually get her to calm down, and I did. I just kept telling her that the doctor wants me to do this to make her better. She usually calms down once she understands what's going on. By this time I was crying and telling her "I'm so sorry Ava, I'm so sorry." She stopped crying all together and started wiping my tears and said "I'm not mad at you mommy." God, I love her. 

After about 20 minutes of that, it seemed like forever, I got her out and checked her temp again. 103.6. I felt like the bath was useless. I called the doc, and I ended up having to page a different doctor because Ava's doc is not on until 8. The doc called me back right away and basically told me I was doing everything right, and for me to give her a teaspoon and a half of Motrin, on top of the teaspoon of Tylenol I have her a half hour ago. He didn't think the Tylenol would be enough. So, I did and I let her sit on the couch in just her underwear and a towel and watch tv. After about 20 minutes, I gave her some more juice and felt her skin. It was significantly cooler. I checked her temp again. 101.2. Panic mode: off. 

So, Todd just came home a few minutes ago and he and she are cuddling on the couch now. She's been upgraded to a blanket instead of a towel, but she seems much better. We're just waiting for Dr. Calvert to call us around 8 or so. I hope this is over now. I think it's just a matter of being out in this weather everyday last week, plus being around all of her cousins and other kids so much. She hasn't been eating well either because she doesn't like half of the food. So, that can't be good for her system. I hope it's just a fever and that it's broken now.

Its a good way to remind me though. I may be on my maternity leave, but I'm never done being a mommy.