What's been going on here...

We brought the girls to the Cape on Friday for a day trip.  Rich and I feared another summer coming to a close without us making that trip - which is exactly what happened last year and the year before.  Before I blog about that though, I still have photos from July that need to be sorted, edited and posted.

I didn't feel all that great on Sunday, which could have been from anything.  Anna was fine in the morning but as the day went on, it become obvious that she was not acting like herself.  She was quiet, a bit grumpy and didn't really want to eat anything.  At bedtime, she had a fever, which continued throughout the night.  It would go down with Tylenol only to return a few hours later.

I was awake for a good portion of the night and 5:30AM found all five of us in our bed.  From left to right - Rich, Allie, Me, Anna.  Emily slept in the nest, which is the pile of blankets at the foot of the bed.  I felt like crap, probably from being up half of the night and made the decision to take a sick day from work, not just for me but really for Anna.  Rich is perfectly capable of caring for all three girls, even if one is sick but I knew that Anna wouldn't be able to rest as well.

We all slept past 8:00 which is very unusual in our house.  I decided that after cathing Anna, Anna and I would stay upstairs and take a nap.  Now, the girls are typical siblings in that they play together like best friends but there's also a fair share fighting and teasing.  Immediately, both Allie and Emily were concerned and upset over Anna's illness.  They both wanted to hug and kiss her.  Allie, without being asked to, went into Anna's room and found her favorite buddy, Baby Zebra.  They also both made her get well cards.  This all happened within 5 minutes of us waking up.

Rich brought Allie and Emily downstairs while a turned a fan on in my room to block noise and set Anna up in the middle of my bed.  She said that she couldn't shut her eyes but in less than a minute, she was fast asleep.  I spent the better part of yesterday caring for Anna, cuddling with her on the couch and trying to make her comfortable.  She drank a lot of water but refused to eat anything.  Finally, around dinnertime she had a few nibbles of pretzel.

So here's the thing - I know kids get sick but unexplained fevers freak me out.  We didn't know if there was an infection somewhere and if there was, it's not an easy diagnosis for a doctor.  Anna had what I think was a mosquito bite last week - the first and only one we've had this summer - and I was freaking out over the thought of EEE.

I slept with Anna last night, which means that I really only slept from 1:15 to about 4:45 this morning.  I was so worried about her, I couldn't sleep.  I decided to cath her at 5:00 this morning since she was awake and had been drinking a lot of water throughout the night.  Well, she ended up puking.  And I had given her another dose of Tylenol about 15 minutes before that because she was still running a fever - albeit a lower grade one.

After giving her a quick bath, I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror.  I had to make the decision on whether or not to go into work.  I had had a splitting headache all night and my eyes looked weird - like those of someone who had been awake all night.  There was an important meeting taking place today and other discussions I needed to be involved with.  I looked at Anna curled up in bed, grasping Zebra and decided to stay home with her.

Anna is still sick but we saw improvements today.  She was hungry and has been trying to eat.  She hasn't been eating very much but any amount is better than nothing.  She's been drinking fluids all day.  All three girls played together this morning for the longest time without any fighting.  It was obvious that Allie and Emily missed having Anna around.  Anna still looks sick though and has been resting on and off.  Her fever was gone or very low grade during the day (without a fever reducer) but it started to creep back up right before bedtime.  Sigh.

Little baby girl is sleeping peacefully this evening and she finally feels cool.