Sick Baby

Friday evening, when I was giving Kinley her bath, she kept shivering in the tub.  I thought maybe it was because the A/C was blowing and just giving her little chills.  When I started getting her pajamas on, she kept chattering her teeth, and my heart sank.  I felt her forehead, and could tell right away that she had a fever.  The weekend before school starts!  One of the worst times for a teacher to have a sick baby!!  I figured we would wait it out and see what happened. 

Saturday morning, John had to go to work, and Kinley had a pretty high fever.  I started trying to call the after-hours clinic for our pediatrician.  I finally got through, but then got put on hold.  A couple of different people told me to just drive up there and talk to them in person, if I couldn't get through on the phone.  I got Kinley loaded up and called again.  I had to stop and get gas, and then got all the way to their office while on hold.  As I was getting her out of the car, they finally answered.  The first available appointment they had was 12:10, so I took that.  We weren't far from John's restaurant, so we just went over there to hang out.  Once they got opened, we had lunch, and Kinley actually ate a good portion of a burger, but I knew she wasn't feeling well.

Once we got to the doctor's office, she was tired, clingy and hot.  Thank goodness, they called us back less than 5 minutes after we checked in.  The whole time they were taking her vitals, she cried, and just wanted me to hold her.  She started sounding raspy and "wheezy", too.  Once the doctor came in, she asked me how long she had sounded that way, and I told her it had just started, but it seemed to get worse and worse.  She diagnosed her with croup, and said her left ear looked like it had the beginning of an ear infection.  Definitely not what I wanted to hear!!  She said once her fever broke, she wouldn't be contagious anymore, but I was still worried about Monday.  We got a prescription for amoxicillin and a steroid (to help open up her airway).  We waited until those were filled, and then I took her home to nap.  All she did was cry this sad, raspy cry, and she just sounded worse and worse.  I finally just put her in bed with me and tried to soothe her.  She fell asleep for about an hour, but she just sounded terrible.  Being the first-time mom that I am, I started getting really worried.

When John got home from work, he couldn't believe how drastically she had changed from the morning when he saw her.  She sounded awful, and she was so lethargic.  I hadn't been able to get her fever to break with Tylenol, so we tried Advil.  We also got the bathroom all steamy (for her breathing) and I gave her a lukewarm bath to try and break the fever.  We were starting to debate going to the ER.  I really didn't want to spend our night at the hospital, but I was really worried about her.  We called John's dad in Ireland to get his opinion.  During the time we were on the phone with him, Kinley started to perk up slightly.  I could tell her fever was coming down some, and even though her breathing still sounded pretty bad, she wasn't as lethargic as before.  We decided to just wait it out, and see what happened during the night.

Today, when we got up, she didn't have a fever, although she still has this awful sounding cough.  If she stays fever-free, she can go to Dora's tomorrow, but I feel horrible about it, because I know that she won't be back to herself.  John and I both really need to be at work tomorrow, so I'm hoping she can make it.  Poor baby!