So when I left you on Saturday, I was hoping Maria would emerge content from her afternoon nap.

And she did … for a while!

After she woke up, we decided that we would head out to our shower with her. We knew we took the chance we would be there for 5 minutes and then leave.  Luckily before we left, I pulled out some paper work from previous doctor visits and realized we needed to increase her dose of Tylenol, because she’s grown quite a bit, since the last time we needed to give her some.  It seemed to do the trick. She was an angel at the party. Smiling and playing for most of the evening. Generally content, until she got tired, and then we made a quick exit, but a good 2.5 hours after our arrival!

She went down after we got home, but then woke up an hour later, and Chad stayed up with her, even though I didn’t ask him very nicely!  (I was a little spent from the night before!)   The next morning she was up at her normal time, which meant she was about 4-5 hours short on sleep!  And she did NOT even come close to making that up in naps yesterday!

She was extremely cranky!  And napping was impossible. I could only get her to sleep by dancing around the room with her. My knees haven’t gotten that kind of workout since she was a few weeks old!  And sleeping only lasted 1/2 hour and only twice that day. Both times she woke up screaming, not her normal babbling self.  It was like she was spooked or distressed. It was actually scary.  She wasn’t running a fever and didn’t even have signs of a cold, so we were clueless.

The nurseline advised more Tylenol, but that didn’t work either. She didn’t want a bottle. She didn’t want to be held. She didn’t want to sit by herself. She would arch her back in protest if we tried to put her down in her crib or rock her. We didn’t know what to do. At 9:30 pm, we finally packed up for the Emergency Room.  It was a busy night there. We sat in the waiting area for about an hour, trying not to touch anything.  Yuk.

Then once we got a room (Maria was asleep at this point), we waited some more.  Although we were feeling better about coming, because all the nurses we talked to reassured us that they would do the same.  Chad wasn’t sure it was a good idea.  How do we know if she’s just fussy and overtired or if something is wrong?  But then I said, how do we know if she’s just fussy and overtired or SOMETHING is WRONG?

After 3.5 hours at the ER, we knew nothing more except that her ears looked “pristine”, but she might have a sore throat, and they did a urine analysis, but immediate results were negative. Culture results wouldn’t be ready for 2 more days.  The doctor doesn’t do strep tests on babies, because it’s so highly unlikely. He did think that something was wrong though. That her fever the day before was too high to be caused by shots. We got home at 1:30 am.  Maria went straight down until 10:30 this morning.

Chad didn’t go in to work until afternoon, and I was able to postpone my first day at my new contract until tomorrow.  So I stayed home with her, and Grandma and Grandpa came over to see her.  (She turned 9 months old today!)  She was a little better, but still had a meltdown when it was obviously time for a nap.

Today we had to follow up with our pediatrician’s office.  We didn’t see our regular doctor, but the doctor we had said she definitely had a sore throat and said even babies can get strep, so we tested her. It was negative. And he also asked about her tummy. The nurseline or the doctor last night did not seem to think that her pain was due to constipation, because she’s not completely “stopped” up. But let me tell you, this girl grunts and grunts for a pea sometimes. The doctor today definitely thought she needed more prunes after feeling her little belly. Poor girl! So we still don’t know for sure, but know that she needs more Tylenol for her throat and more prunes to get things moving.

Oh, and on top of this, I tried Luv’s this week. And she had a the worst diaper rash I’ve ever seen on her today. I won’t even finish the pack, it was that bad. Back to Pampers.  Trying to save money, and I probably just added to her discomfort.