Valentine's Eve

We had some fun plans scheduled for tonight. There was a cute little Valentine's Eve party with Catherine's friends, so I tried to wear her out this morning to ensure a good nap. She got her bangs trimmed this morning at the salon. Then, we played and played with the train table and books and Barnes and Noble. We got lunch to go at Zoe's and talked and sang all the way home. She took one bite and said, "all done." I thought she must just be exhausted, so I put her down for an early nap. She slept for over an hour. All was well.

Then, she woke up, we came downstairs, and she looked at me with the saddest eyes before projectile vomiting all over herself, me, and the living room rug. Then, again in a trail as I carried her to the bathroom. I thought it was just a one time thing. It's never been anything more than that before. I cleaned us both up, settled her into her chair with a Pedialyte popsicle, turned on Elmo and waited for my spunky little girl to come back. 

She threw up the popsicle.

I gave her a tiny bit of watered down juice...

And back up it came.

Ice chips.

Nope.

I called the doctor's office and spoke with a nurse who told me not to worry and to try giving her liquids 1 tsp at a time and to go to the ER if she still had a dry diaper after eight hours or stopped producing tears when she cried.

Then she threw up bile.

So I packed us up and we headed to the ER. Eight hours, my ass.

I covered her with a beach towel (which came in handy when she threw up on the way) and we made it to Children's to join the party in the ER waiting room.

When we made it back to a room, the nurse played a game where she gave C a cup of Gatorade and had a "tea party" with her while she sipped a little at a time. It was pretty genius actually. I've been holding her down in a head lock just to get her to swallow Advil. Who knew the power of "tea"? They also gave her a dose of some magical anti nausea medication and she somehow kept all the Gatorade down. Hooray!

From start to finish, we were at the hospital three and a half hours, though it felt like much much longer. I hauled C back to the car and she was asleep within minutes of leaving the deck. As I took in the moment of silence and watched my sweet baby finally relax, I found myself so very grateful. I was grateful to live in a city with a Children's hospital. I was grateful for a iPad loaded with games and Winnie the Pooh movies. I was grateful that my baby hadn't thrown up in three hours. And I was grateful that I was taking my baby home, while so many were staying the night there. 

It was far from the way we planned to spend the evening. I just got to show her my love in a different way. Sure, we have a couple days of Gatorade and saltine crackers ahead of us, but this will pass. For now, she is a healthy, happy girl... just getting over the stomach bug. We may have to delay the sweets explosion of Valentine's Day until my sweet is feeling a little better.