When I fall behind on writing my blog, it becomes so much harder to start again! So much has happened, I feel that I can’t catch back up again. I often feel the same way when I get behind reading my Bible. I plan to read it every day, then when I skip a day, it is harder for me to just jump back in. Why is that?
This past week was mostly awesome (except for Sarah, who came down with strep throat!) Our church and another church in our town, High Plains Harvest, came together to host Vacation Bible School in our town. I love to see our churches working together. It has been a real blessing to get to know the people from High Plains and to work with them in so many different outreaches. Our churches are both small and we are able to accomplish together what neither of us could do alone. And the focus is just on pointing people to Jesus!
We held the VBS at the local school and park and over the course of the week, approximately 65+ kids came through our doors! I was able to be a Crew Leader and worked with mostly upcoming 2nd and 3rd graders. Naomi was in my group, and so I got to have some special time with her, too. I was totally worn out at the end of each day, but in a good way!
Sarah went to the nursery on Monday and Tuesday. I also chose this week to start weaning. Since I was going to be away from her for 3-4 hours each morning, I decided to send her with formula instead of trying to pump enough milk for the week. As of today, I have now given up the morning feeding for 6 days. Sarah adjusted fine to the formula, but on Tuesday afternoon she came down with a high fever. Tim ended up staying home with her on Wednesday and Thursday so that I could continue being the Crew Leader at VBS. It was quite a juggling act.
Here comes my rant. I called our doctor’s office for the first time on Wednesday evening (after hours) because Sarah had slept for over 6 hours that day and I was concerned about her being too lethargic. At the time, she was not running a fever. The doctor advised comfort care and I was fine with that. Thursday morning, her fever came back. I called our doctor’s office again at 8:30 Thursday morning, reporting the return of fever and requesting that I bring her in. She also had a congested cough and runny nose. The nurse asked about her fever, and I said it had been 102.5 on Tuesday, 101.4 on Wed. morning, and that I didn’t know her exact temperature at the moment but that I knew it was high. She said Sarah needed to run a fever of 101 or high for more than 3 days (before I could bring her in). I said, “Well, she ran it on Tuesday, Wednesday, and now again today.” She said to give her one more day and call Friday if it was still up. Oh, and she told me they don’t worry about the cough because it could last for 3 weeks.
Sarah’s fever went away around lunchtime on Thursday and did not come back. She was not as lethargic, and she was eating OK, but she was not her usual self. She went to the nursery on Friday morning and the nursery workers all told me that she was not acting like her normal self, and had been pulling at her ears. I called the doctor’s office around noon on Friday and again asked, very directly, to bring her in for a doctor to see her. After an hour and a half of phone tag with the triage nurse, I finally spoke to her and explained all of Sarah’s symptoms. I said that while she wasn’t running a fever anymore, I was not sure what was going on with her, and it seemed to be something new every day. The nurse advised me that I should take her to the emergency room because they didn’t have any openings for more appointments that day! Well, I am not going to take a child to the emergency room when it’s not an emergency, and sit there for 6 hours and probably get exposed to worse germs than what we brought with us! I decided to take Sarah to an Urgent Care, where she was seen within an hour. Her ears were fine, but the strep culture came back positive. I left vindicated with a prescription for amoxicillin.
The episode has reinforced my faith in my “Mom Instincts.” I had seriously been doubting whether Sarah was ill or not when I left to go to Urgent Care. Maybe it was just a bad cold. Or a virus that had to run its course. Maybe she was almost over it anyway. Maybe I should wait through the weekend and call the doctor on Monday. I went to Urgent Care feeling kind of foolish, especially since she had no fever, and (of course) wouldn’t cough when the doctor was in the room. I am so glad I listened to myself (and to my mom, who probably would have driven out here to take Sarah herself I hadn’t!). Otherwise her strep would have gone untreated.
End of rant.
On the way home from the pharmacy yesterday, Naomi, who is in the backseat, yells out, “My tooth is gone!” She lost a tooth…somewhere…we do not know where it is…She added, “I’ll still get money for it though.” ha!
So now it’s Saturday, and we are taking a day of rest. The laundry is started, the dishes are done, and all 3 girls are dancing to the CD of VBS songs.
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