My worst fear (at the moment) came true on Thursday around 3 a.m. when we were told that Sadie had somehow contracted Influenza Type A aka Swine Flu aka H1N1. I knew in my heart - probably a super-mommy power - about a day before that she was getting sick. And I also knew that it wasn't going to be good.
In the couple of days leading up to the flu diagnosis, Sadie had been waking up screaming for no reason at all in the middle of the night. A sure sign that some sort of yucky bug has invaded her body and set up camp.
For the past few weeks, I wouldn't say I've been worrying about the H1N1 flu virus, probably more on the verge of panicking over it. I called and put her on a wait list at the pediatrician. Kept up tabs on the local county health clinics and their availability of the injectable vaccine. Finally, Will County pulled through and started their first clinic on Wednesday. Right around the same time Sadie started to not feel so hot.
And it was as fast as they say. She had a runny nose in the morning, but was otherwise playful, talkative...her normal self. I put her down for a nap around noon and she slept until 4 pm. It was my 30th birthday, so I spent her naptime cleaning up the house before my parents and sister stopped by later that evening.
Sadie woke up from her nap cranky, nothing unusual after a long slumber. I popped in Finding Nemo and spent the next half hour getting food set out for my guests.
She suddenly started to cough - a very dry, nasty cough - so I took her temperature. It was a low 99 degrees. I gave her some Motrin for the second time that day (when she gets a runny nose, I try to give her something for the pain because she always gets an ear infection). This was around 4 oclock.
Family came over, and Sadie was having a great time. Around 8 oclock, she suddenly looked glassy-eyed, tired and very cranky. And darn that pesky cough. We gave her another dose of Motrin and put her to bed.
Around 9:30 she woke up in bed. Not crying, but whimpering. She was burning up. So we took her temperature and couldn't believe it was 103 degrees. My mommy instincts kicked in and with her history, I decided to just take her straight to the ER. Definitely glad I did.
So it's been a couple of days and the fever has yet to break. Sadie's been holding up pretty good despite the high temps and Tylenol suppositories (poor thing) and she actually downed her entire dose of Tamiflu last night.
I'm sure Erik and I will be getting it soon. I already have a low-grade fever and my neck is killing me. I just hope we don't get it as bad.
So, how did the paranoid mom end up with a swine flu baby? We hadn't taken her out in weeks - no play dates, no shopping trips - nothing. I'm sure somehow someway, we forgot to sanitize our hands one time or maybe someone's sneeze floated into our personal space. Who knows? I guess you can't spend all your time worrying. But just do the best you can and hope that it works out.
On the plus side, I don't have to get her the H1N1 vaccine now. So instead of waiting in line for 3 hours to get the vaccine, we waited 8 in the emergency room.
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