A Trip to the Hospital

Oh my, have we had an eventful evening! My son woke up early this morning, and because it's a Tuesday, my mom watches him for most of the day. She called me around 2:00 and told me that she thought her grandson might have a fever.

So, at 2:00, my mom arrived with the little one, and we took his temperature: 101.9. Whoa! His temperature had never been that high before, so I was immediately worried. I'm the at-103-we-book-it-to-the-ER kind of momma. I gave him some Advil, put the air in the house to 68, gave him a bath, and let him play in just his diaper. I got the fever down to 98.5. Phew. No need to worry.

Wrong.

At dinner, I noticed that he was acting very lethargic and that he was really red in the face. I decided to check his temperature again: 102.9. Ummmm, not good. So, we decided to take him into the after-hours clinic. While we were waiting, he started to seem really out of it. He was getting so hot that I was literally sweating just holding him. I started to panic, and my mind started playing out all the things that might be wrong.

Finally, we were called back. The nurse took his temperature under his armpit, which surprised me, because I know it's always less under the armpit than in the ear. His temperature was 103.5. My heart just about exploded with worry when I saw that number.

We were taken back to a room, and the first thing that they decided to do was catheterize my son. I thought it was totally overkill and that they should have bagged him, but I kept my mouth shut. And what happened? They couldn't get any urine out AFTER catheterizing my barely-breathing-because-he-was-crying-so-hard son and THEN decided to bag him. Steam coming out of my ears, I tell you.

Then, they had to do blood work. They got the vein in his foot, he screamed his lungs out, we bounced a baby on our knees and watched Sid the Science Kid on Daddy's PC tablet (thank the Lord!). Then, about an hour later, they came back needing more blood. They said they didn't get blood the first time. Please, Jesus, let me not scream my lungs out at someone tonight. This time, they decided they needed to restrain my son. So, they took a blanket and wrapped it tightly around him except for his head and arm. Needless to say, he was going ballistic.

Then, we needed a chest x-ray. That wasn't too traumatic.

Finally, after five-and-a-half hours in a tiny room with a screaming child, the doctor came in and announced the verdict:

Ear infection in both ears.

These things went through my mind:

1. Thank you Lord that it wasn't something more serious!
2. I'm going to strangle somebody.
3. Momma needs a margarita when she gets home.