Slow Motion

A few minutes ago, I was standing in the kitchen. Staring. Pondering. A little bit confused as to what my next task should be. I feel like I'm in some kind of slow motion movie right now. It literally took me thirty minutes to figure out that my task should be dishes, and then to actually complete that task. I'm now drinking some illegal caffeine in hopes that I might move into normal-speed before tonight.

So anyway, yesterday started out innocently enough. The fever was gone in the morning, we all seemed to be a little bit happier. I even made plans with Michael's mom to go to a home clothing show that afternoon. But by 10:30, Phoebe's sad little whimper told me that something more had to be going on, so I caved and made the doctor's appointment.

At 4, I showed up at the pediatrician with about five hundred other kids. We even ran into a friend from church in the sick child waiting room. Except Phoebe looked anything but sick. Her fever was down, she was "talking" to anybody who would look her way, and waving at all of the sweet nurses. This did not look like a sick child, and I felt pretty silly even being there. But the sweet doctor confirmed: it's an ear infection.

So no big deal, we fight traffic home, get our antibiotics, and plan on a settled night. We're back by 5:30, and Michael's making plans to pick up the prescription and some lo mein. But at 6, the plan changed when her temp (which was normal two hours earlier) skyrocketed to 103.1. Smart Mommy said, "Okay, we'll give her meds and feed her dinner." After one bite of cereal, Phoebe had her first major throw up of her life.


After a panicked call to the after hours nurse (who assured me that she would live, and that it is okay if she doesn't eat on a schedule while she's sick), we managed to control the temp a bit and get her settled long enough to eat a hot dog (us, not her).


The next several hours were the "get baby to sleep" dance -- between fever, ear, upset tummy... I don't blame her for not being able to sleep! She finally settled for the night at around midnight, woke at 3:30, and then settled back down until seven.

It was a long night, folks.

The good news is, it seems that she's doing a lot better this morning. She's still having a hard time sleeping (did I mention she's also teething?), but Michael managed to get her down for a nap a little bit ago. Please pray that our little girl will start eating and that her ear pain would subside. Also, sleep would be beautiful... she's not getting it during the day or at night -- so neither are we!

In all of this, however, I'm reminded of God's faithfulness. I was talking to my friend Becca this morning, and she said it was such a good thing that we weren't having to travel this weekend. Which triggered the thought: we were supposed to be! We had planned, about six weeks ago, to go to San Francisco with my parents for a business related excursion (Phoebs and I would be along for the fun of it). My parents are traveling today... several hours on a plane. Could you imagine a baby with a fever/ear infection/tummy bug on a plane? I am so thankful that the Lord has protected us from that!

Hopefully my next post will be filled with good news... but for now, I'm going to drink some coffee and relish the fact that Phoebe is sleeping in the next room, in her crib.