Poor Emmie. She has been some kind of sick for the last month or so. It’s to be expected with day care, for sure, but it has been a rough month. Teething led to a cold led to a rash led to a cough led to a double ear infection led to a fever led to serious lethargy and no appetite led to frighteningly dry diapers for juuuuust long enough to scare the crap out of mama led to getting better! led to the cough returning even worse led to a diagnosis of still-infected ears led to MOAR DRUGS.

I’ve never been more worried about her health than I was at two points this past month. The first time was at the beginning of the ear infection, which I think started Halloween night. That night, she was fine and then suddenly just began crying during dinner and more or less didn’t stop until she fell asleep. I chalked it up to the cupcake daycare had given her and the general weirdness/excitement of her first Halloween, but now I realize she was actually getting sick.

The next day, she felt terribly warm, but the thermometer never read more than 99. More than that, she was lethargic, SUPER clingy, and very tired. After I put her down for her nap, I called the Kaiser nurse line (LOVE THEM), even though I felt pretty sure she was probably fine. I explained a little bit about what was going on, but as soon as I said the word “lethargic,” the nurse immediately jumped in and said “Fever. That’s fever. How far away are you?” She put me on hold and when she got back on the line, she started in with “Your appointment…” and gave me the impression I was to come in right then. When I said Emmie was napping, she said, “Wake her up, she can sleep in the car.” Right then I started getting much more worried. I tossed Emmie in the car and we headed right up, as I worried about things like meningitis and spinal taps the whole drive.

Luckily, the doctor was much less concerned and declared Emmie the proud owner of a double ear infection (at least, this is what I inferred from her concerned clucking noises after inspecting each ear). We got some amoxicillin and went on our merry way.

That weekend, we went out of town to the mountains (doc had given her blessing). Emmie *seemed* better than her lethargic self, but then I started to get seriously scared when her diapers seemed terribly dry. The doc said to call if she started refusing liquids, but she was still nursing (a bit) and would still take a sip or two of water or milk every so often, so it didn’t really seem like she was really refusing liquids. That said, I think she only had a couple marginally wet diapers over 12+ hours. If she had gone another hour or two, or had even one more sign of dehydration, I was going to call ASAP. Luckily, she turned a corner just in time and recovered steadily… (until the antibiotics were done, but clearly hadn’t killed everything, since I had to go back in a few days later to learn she still had gunky ears).

We are finally, finally on the upswing now, I hope. I just hope that the antibiotics do the trick this time. Seeing how funny, sparkling and delightful she was tonight made me realize how sick she’s been for so long. She was racing around the kitchen, laughing her little head off, showing no signs of tiredness even at 6 PM. Even just the past few nights, she’s been coming to me around 5 PM with all of her nighttime gear (lovey, Soothie, blankets, etc.) and asking for “milk,” which a sure sign for bed. Seeing her so lively and happy made my heart sing. I hope she keeps getting better and better.