So, she's sick. ER trip.

It's the first time she's really, truly been sick. And it stinks. It started with a cold, so we thought. A runny nose that we kept trying to pin on her teething (yep, still workin on those teeth, at this point, the top two and the bottom two are racing to break through we're not sure which tooth will succeed first, but they're all visible through her gum line) but the nose just kept running and running. Then came a bit of a cough. We decided to keep her home from Day Care because she was officially sick with a cold. 

Then, in the middle of the night, it got worse. She kept wailing in this screechy cry and threw these terrible sounding coughs in there, too. My poor baby. We called the advice line on Monday AM knowing they would tell us how to treat it (humidifier, steamy bathroom, plenty of fluids). 

She did better during the day and after talking to my Mom in the evening she asked if she had a fever. She didn't earlier in the day but as I was talking to my Mom I remembered her being on the toasty side last time I fed her. So I went and took her temp. 101.3. Crap. She continued her barky cry as I, again called the advice line. 

The woman was good, she asked me if it was a 'seal bark' cry and cough. She hit the nail on the head with that description. So, she set us up with a 'phone appointment' within minutes of the initial call to the advice line. 

The doctor called. He said it sounded like 'croup', something I had yet to hear of. So, he said to bundle her up and crack her window so she's breathing cold air as that can help with the symptoms (swelling of her lungs). Also, to continue with the humidifier, the saline spray and when it gets bad the steamy bathroom. *If it gets worse, give us a call back. 

So, it got worse. She woke up and we just couldn't help her go back to sleep, the steam didn't help, nothing did. I got back on the phone with the advice line (This is where it gets good)

I told the woman that it's gotten worse. She asked me "Well you saw the doctor, what did he do?" I told her we didn't see the doctor, we had a phone conference with him. "Oh, a PTE" I told her I didn't know what that was. She said "That means you met with him on the phone". Great. Thanks lady. I told her the doc said to call back should it get worse and if it didn't we had an appointment for 8:45 AM. "Can I hear her now?" I took her to Jenna. The woman FLIPPED OUT. She told me that the doctor should've sent us to the emergency room and, well she wasn't going to say much more because she wanted to keep her job. "That baby's lungs are too tight. You need to go to the Emergency Room right now. She's not going to last until 8:45"

Needless to say, I flipped. I started crying. This woman said my baby wasn't going to *last* until 8:45. OK, we're on the move. I put my shoes on and the phone rang. I picked it up it was the infamous woman from the advice line "Miss you're being recorded, how long will it take you to get to Walnut Creek?" I told her that after my husband puts on his shoes, 10 minutes. She proceeded to tell me "OK, I was going to tell you if it was going to take longer than that you need to call an ambulance." Ugh. 

We get there and of course Jenna stopped coughing and crying. She was just there, awake. I was grateful she was feeling better but felt stupid checking in with this calm baby to the ER at 11:30 at night. They took her in, weighted her (lol, as we were walking her naked from the scale to the initial room to take her temp and get her the super snazzy bands on her ankles, she farted with every step I took... it gave Nick and I a much needed laugh) took her temp (still high) and gave us a room. And we waited.... and waited. 

The nurse we had was weird. Just a bit odd. They said her lungs sounded great and after 2 hours, the doctor came in. Of course, before that Jenna did fall asleep once, but only for about 10 minutes before my favorite male nurse threw a sharp in our sharps container and woke her up... why he picked ours to drop it into, I have no clue. The doctor said she has croup but is on the mild end of the spectrum. When we told her the advice line woman advised an ambulance, she looked at us, and said "You didn't call the ambulance, did you?" No, no we didn't. 

Jenna got a shot of steroids and some tylenol. The nimrods that administered the tylenol and shot were trying to figure out the dosage of tylenol and both broke out their cell phones to use as a calculator. AND they checked their work between the two of them to see if they came up with the final result. I was too tired to question this behavior... but I was ticked. Then, when they gave it to her she SHOT 1.5 ml's into Jenna's mouth and of course she freaked out... then when we had calmed her down enough I asked her to give it to her slowly for the next 1.5ml... before I could finish my sentence she had squirted the rest in her mouth (so much that some shot back out of her mouth) and I yelled hang on! I tried to put my finger in her mouth so she could suck it and get the medicine down but the woman said "BLOW on her face!" 

Dude, lady... back off. I should've asked to give her the meds. Then, with the shot. She was standing there with Tweedle Dee and is reading from the screen "Left lateral thigh" and she pats her left lateral thigh (as if to show off this knowledge). I asked if it was possible to give it in her right thigh as it was already exposed... She had to do some searching in the computer but found it and promptly patted her right lateral thigh (seriously, this killed me). She went to give the shot and she announced "STICK!" when she got the needle in. She was slow and fumbling. Poor Jenna. Amateur night at the ER her first visit. It took a bit to calm her down. 

Of course, the minute we hit the car, she was out. Slept a good 3 hour block, woke to feed, down again. 

Her cough sounds a bit better this morning. Of course, when I went to my phone to call Irma, there was a serious message from my Mom saying "Call right away." I called. Last night, my Dad had some chest pains and *drove himself to the hospital*. He's currently being tested. A few skipped heartbeats and low potassium levels. He may have had a heart attack  but they can't tell yet. He's currently admitted in the heart ward of the hospital. It's been one emotional day, lemme tell you.