Excuse

Here is my excuse for not blogging lately:


This is a picture of my dear sweet daughter sitting in the exam chair in her PJ's in the Emergency Room on Sunday night (complete with hospital bracelet around her ankle). :(

Here goes the long version of the story:

Sunday marked 3 weeks since this saga began. Maddy was very out of sorts, grumpy and not sleeping well, so we took her to the doctor. They checked her out and said that they couldn't find anything wrong with her. They said that the cough she had was probably just a little cold that would need to run it's course. Later that week, on Thursday, we took her back because everything seemed worse. When we went that day, they said she had an ear infection, gave us a prescription for a 5-day oral antibiotic and sent us on our way. Two weeks later (this past Thursday) I took her in again. The cough and congestion were much worse. It was all I could do to get her to sleep more than about 5 or 6 hours per night (she normally sleeps 10), and she was more cranky than I EVER remember her being. The doctor checked her ears and said that she had a double ear infection. Her prescribed Augmentin which is the strongest oral antibiotic they can give her (read: TERRIBLE diaper rash and for lack of a better term, diarrhea). Poor kid is MISERABLE at this point. So, that was Thursday. Saturday, she started with a little bit of a fever... 101 or 102 (somewhere around there). Sunday, we opted to stay home from church and rest. Sunday evening Maddy started babbling like crazy. Mind you, she knows quite a few words, so to hear her babbling on about nothing is not quite normal. We didn't think much of it, though, and let her play. A few minutes later, she came over to where I was sitting and started whining. I picked her up and she was BURNING UP. While we were sitting there, she got very lethargic. She was just limp in my arms (no eyes rolling back or anything SUPER scary... just obviously NOT feeling well). We took her temperature and it was 103.7. We decided that maybe a bath and some Motrin was in order. After her bath, she was 103.9. I felt like I had "waited long enough," so we got her dressed in her PJ's, put our shoes on, packed a few snacks and some water (no need for preggo Mommy to become a patient, too from passing out), and headed to the ER. We were in and out in less than 3 hours. I was thoroughly impressed with that part. I was NOT impressed, however, with the way they took her temperature. They used the same temporal thermometer her doctor's office uses, but did not do it the way they do at the doctor's office. When they told me her temperature, they said it was 99.6. This momma ain't buying that!! When we saw the doctor, he checked her out and looked in her throat... (Enter the DUH moment... I realized at this point that through all these doctor's visits NO ONE had looked at her throat!!!!) The doctor said, "No wonder she won't eat anything!! Her tonsils have huge puss pockets on them!!!" Enter the diagnosis of Tonsilitis. The doctor gave her a shot of Rocephin which is an injectible antibiotic (antibiotic number 3 now). He suggested that we follow up with her doctor the next morning. So, I called and took her in. Of course, her doctor is out of the office this week, but we saw a fantastic nurse practitioner (Dr. Wiley ALWAYS leaves us in good hands when he's away), and she agreed with the diagnosis. She let us know that Rocephin is a series of 3 shots usually, so she had the nurse give Maddy shot number 2 on Monday. We went back yesterday morning for the 3rd, and final (thank God), shot. I am ELATED to report that Maddy is doing GREAT today!! While she was getting the shots, we stopped with the Augmentin, but resumed that today. That being said, her 10-day antibiotics will last 12 days, but who cares?!?!?!

I had forgotten what a happy kid she normally is. She played most of the day all on her own!! She ran around, played with her toys, showed me all her picture books and told me what most of the pictures were. She's doing GREAT!!! We have a follow-up appointment with her normal doctor on March 25 just to make sure that all the fluid is gone and the ear infection is totally clear. With the exception of this ear infection, the others have all cleared completely before a new one appeared. Therefore, we've never discussed having tubes put in her ears.

I guess that's about all that I have to report about The Princess for right now. I just couldn't be happier that she's feeling so much better today!

As for baby #2, I wouldn't want to leave him/her out. We're doing pretty well. The nausea is still lingering, but I have started to have some short periods of "normalcy", so that's a HUGE PLUS!! My appetite has grown exponentially. I'm pretty worn out, but I take all of these things as good signs. As lots of wise folks before me have said, "This, too, shall pass"!! Our first doctor's appointment is March 24, and I'm very excited! I am expecting a little peek on an ultrasound at that appointment, which should be lots of fun!! I'll be sure to post pictures if we get any!

I'll do my best to keep blogging, but as was mentioned before, I've been pretty tired lately. My goal is to sleep when Maddy sleeps (at least until this part of the pregnancy is over), so I'm breaking that rule already... BUT, I'm having a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios, so I think that's ok. LoL.

I hope everyone's having a great week! After taking a few weeks off from my photography lessons for various reasons, we're resuming tomorrow!! Woo Hoo!!

Talk to everyone soon (I hope!)!!

Love you guys!! :)