Is seeing your child hurting. Whether it be emotional or physical pain, you feel helpless as a parent. Today was definitely one of those days.
On Friday before Kelsie headed back to visit her Daddy, it was obvious she was going to be getting sick. Those little eyes were watering non-stop and she just did not feel good.
Fast forward to this morning. Her Dad called me to let me know that she was feeling like crap and to make sure I had medicine for her. Yup. All stocked, no worries. I asked about her behavior though with how he was talking. She had little appetite and wasn’t wanting to drink anything or eat. She hadn’t had a wet diaper since the middle of the night. GULP.
So I headed to get Kelsie and called Urgent Care. At that point, they said with the risk of dehydration I’d need to head to the ER. When I got Kelsie those little cheeks were RED and she was MISERABLE. She didn’t want to answer questions, she didn’t want music on, she wanted nothing to do with me. We took off for the ER.
Well, I’ve had my issues with the care provided here in town. I do not like this hospital but went because a doctor I trust told me too. We were in and out and told to hold out until 8pm to see if she would have a wet diaper. Prescribed some antibiotics and we headed home.
My mom came in the process of not knowing what was going to need done. When she saw Kelsie, we agreed we needed to get her better attention. While I knew what taking her elsewhere would mean, I refused to hesitate and wait. I couldn’t get her to sip juice, Pedialyte. NOTHING was going in.
When I got her to Story County Medical Center, she was on fire. A temp of 102.3 definitely explained that. After some discussion, I knew an IV was coming. How do you explain to a 2 year old?
She fought and fought but was a CHAMP and I was so proud of her getting her IV. Mommy probably cried more than her. Soon she was asleep on me as my Mom and I watched on. In that time, the fever broke and Kelsie awoke still sick, but back to the little girl questioning things and ready to go.
While there’s no way to put it other than it SUCKED to watch my baby girl get an IV, I was amazed at how quickly it helped her. Never second guess yourself when it comes to your children. If I would have went with the first doctor’s opinion, Kelsie would have sat in hell all day. Instead, she came home stuffed up and not feeling well but she was back eating and taking small sips of fluid. She was beyond pumped to color the Elmo pages her nurses gave her (THANK YOU TO YOU ALL) and stick her stickers everywhere to show me how much she was a trooper today.
The worst feeling is watching your child look at you hurting when you know what you are doing is for the best. You are your child’s advocate. You are the one that calls the shot and makes the decisions. If you don’t like what is said, SPEAK UP.
Kelsie put in perspective for me when she saw her little hands mark from the IV. “Kelsie got a boo boo” Yes baby, a boo boo that was worth it.
6 Comments
I totally agree how much it sucks to see your baby suffer. I’m so glad she’s feeling a bit better!!! xoxo
I completely agree! It is the hardest thing to see our kids hurting. Glad to see Kelsie is getting better:)
Awww Poor Baby Girl. I know what ya mean about watching them having to go through something but you know they just need to do it. Good Job on going with your gut. I hope she feels better soon.
I feel that this is the hardest part about being a parent as well. My daughter has been so sick before and really there was nothing I could do but cuddle with her. This especially rings true when you do not know what’s wrong with them. My daughter used to have breathing problems and it scared the crap out of me. I had her on the nebulizer, but sometimes it did not seem to work. I hate being scared when my child is not feeling well. You never know what it could truly be. And with this H1N1 thing going around, that definitely scares me the most when I hear about children who have died. I do hope she feels better.
Our family has been in that situation, not with children, but with older adults. We knew they weren’t getting the care they needed at one hospital and needed to go to the other one here in town. I’m so glad we did switch older relatives to the other hospital in the town we live, not once, but twice. I truly think if we hadn’t, there would have been needless deaths of our precious ones.
I know exactly what you mean! We have an All Children’s Hospital about 20 minutes away and we don’t hesitate to take our 4 children there at the blink of an eye. I’m glad to hear that little Kelsie was doing better after the IV. One of my children had a little girl in kindergarten who had terminal brain cancer and died a few months into the school year. The young girl had come to school for about the first month and then just couldn’t make it anymore. It breaks my heart even thinking of little Gracie and her poor parents. I couldn’t even imagine the horror they went through. At least our children have come home to get healthy again, this we are truly thankful for.