{The-Not-So} Happy Halloween

( I'm very proud of my Minnie Mouse jack-o-lantern) :)
If it's not one thing, it's another. Isn't that how it always works? Ella recovered from H1N1 a few weeks ago and now she is sick, again. It all started early Thursday morning. She woke up with glossy, tired eyes and right then I knew something was wrong. A couple hours went by and sure enough, a fever of 102. Tylenol every 4 hours and still a climbing fever. I called her doctor and they said if she still had it the next day to bring her in because H1N1 can COME BACK?! What?! Thursday night was a loooooooooong night. But NOTHING compared to Friday night. (I'll get to that in a sec ;). Friday morning fever- 103.6 and to the doc we go. Poor Ella now cries when we pull into the parking lot of the doctor's office and tells me she's, "all done." And as if the doctor's office isn't traumatizing enough- add Halloween decorations to it and nurses dressed up as all the characters from Alice in Wonderland! OMG, what a nightmare! Ella freaked out because we were at the doctor's office AND there were bats hanging from the ceiling and spiders stuck in cobwebs everywhere. Oh, it was a lovely time for me with the neck of my shirt stretched out, snot on my shirt, claw marks on my face and a little monkey trying to climb her way up and over my shoulder and out the door. (I'm kidding about the claw marks :). She screamed when the Queen of Hearts entered the room to take her temperature and weigh her. I don't blame her. I think I jumped myself. Then the doctor came in it raised the crying and screaming level to a 15. He did a strep test- negative. H1N1 test- negative. So, she got a throat culture and the up-the-nose H1N1 test all while being pinned down on the table. That was after me and the doc had to peel her off me. She was SO mad at the doctor she tried BITING his hand! Okay, now my monkey just turned into a baboon. I had to bite my lip from laughing. Hey, I can't say that I blame her... But oh, how embarrassing for me. My sweet little, shy and scared girl tries to snap at the doctor. I could've died. So, after all the poking, pricking, testing, wrestling, biting and screaming, she has a viral throat infection. And I had to call the office when I got home to hear that because when he was telling me in the room, I could not hear him because I had a 21 month old screaming BLOODY MURDER in my ear. I felt bad asking "what?!" 5 times, so I pretended I heard him, nodded and yelled, "THANK YOU!" I wish someone had a video of it all...really, I do. It was like a movie. And did I mention that in the mix of all this, the doctor had on a surgical mask so not only did I not hear him, I didn't even have the chance to read his lips. He must've thought Ella did have Swine Flu. Strange. I couldn't take anyone in that office seriously that day. I'm just glad it's all over.... I hope!
Now back to Friday night... 3:45am- Ella wakes up for a 3rd time, hitting the air and yelling, "NO! NO! Want Mommy!" I'm assuming she was either fighting off the Queen of Hearts of the doctor. I get her up, give her Tylenol only to feel her skin burning my skin. Literally. My skin hurt. I took her temperature- an unbelievable 105 (and I'm rounding down. It was really 105.4)!!! I think I stood in the hallway for 10 minutes holding her, staring at the wall, wondering....WHAT DO I DO?! Meanwhile, Jeff is packing up and heading out the door for the fire academy. So, I'm debating a few things here... do I call my sister? Do I take her to the ER? Do I put her in the bath? Nope, I didn't do any of them. I stripped her down, gave her Tylenol, begged her to drink water and started the bath water. She was crying hysterically and it only made her fever go up even more. So, I turned off the water and sat there... on the bathroom floor...at 4:00am... shaking because I was so scared she was going to have a febrile seizure. by 4:45, her fever went down to 103.9. I stuck a big t-shirt on her and put her in bed with me. I watched her from 4:45-9:00am. She finally woke up at 9:45am with a fever of 104.9! (Wow...this is the longest post EVER). I'll cut it short- her fever went down, slightly. She missed Trick-or-Treating. :( She got to wear her costume for 45 minutes. Then it was bedtime at 6:30pm. Still has a fever today ranging from 99.7-102. They might want her to come back tomorrow to make sure she doesn't have a bladder or kidney infection. Hopefully her fever is gone by tomorrow. She's probably been awake for a total of 2 hours today. :( We will be having a Halloween Do-Over just for her. :) OH! And let me tell you how SWEET her cousin Jordyn is. She took Ella's pumpkin Trick-or-Treating for her and went door to door saying, "This is my cousin Ella's pumpkin. She's at home sick." What a sweetheart.