Friday, April 5, 2013

The Return of "Mighty Midget"...

My middle daughter likes to scare the hell out of me.

No really, how many years ago was it I posted about her trip to the hospital over an infected ant bite?
My Mighty Midget sure knows how to turn mama's hair grey...

It's spring. Lots of nasty viruses floating around. Needless to say I've been waiting.

Waiting for our turn. Or have you forgotten that Little people are fond of waging Biological Warfare on their parents, classmates, teachers etc?


So it began, last weekend...with a couple of the kids at school coming down with a stomach virus.
Then a coworker and her family...

By Monday? I had less than half of the expected students in my class. Only it wasn't just the stomach virus. It was a NUMBER of VARIOUS viruses that were attacking the little people and adults alike. Everything from strep, flu, stomach flu, sinus infections...

And yet, we were all good...

Tuesday Lil Bit and Tid Bit (aka Mighty Midget) had their 3 & 4 year old checks ups. So I figured, I'm covered. SURE, Bitty Bit stayed home with a cold with Daddy Monday, but the Doc had cleared her for school. Cold Schmold. I got this.

Pedi is impressed with my darling daughter's impressive vocabulary and overall growth, they are just perfect. Everyone is happy.

Lil Bit had to get shots. Her happiness was short lived. But I was satisfied, amid all this awful illness, my kids had the fortune to have a pre-scheduled MD appt, and look at THAT, clean bill of health.


That was my first mistake. Thinking we were in the clear because we had already been to the doctor.

So we get back to school/work, have a great afternoon. (My job is sadly a little boring with all those kids out...kept looking around and counting and feeling like I'd forgotten a kid in the toilet or something.)

We leave, come home, have a snack, go to pick up Bubba. Lil Bit crashes out in the backseat, nothing new. I get her home and she feels warm, but she was cuddled up under a blanket, no biggie. Then she lays down on the couch. And she has that LOOK.

Any mama knows that look. You can just look in your babies eyes and know something is off. Lil Bit? Is rarely if ever sick. We had JUST gotten a clean bill of health.

But she had immunizations. She's gonna feel like crap tonight. I expected that. I take her temp. 103.00.


Wait...wha? That's too high for shots... I ask around to some friends. Apparently it varies. I give her some Motrin and dismiss it.

Daddy gets home, we are getting ready to serve up dinner. Bubba's soccer practice is cancelled so YAY, family dinner at a decent hour. Until Mr. AGU picks up Tid Bit and says

"You know she is burning UP, right?"...

Now Tid Bit has fever.

Whiskey.Tango. Foxtrot...over.


So I gear up for a night of ...well, what? I have no idea WHAT the hell is wrong with my kids?! Other than fever they seem fine, no one is complaining really. I call my boss, give her the heads up. We agree that if I break the fevers, I'll be in tomorrow. No biggy.

I wake them both up every few hours, monitoring their temps (they never fully "broke," but I was able to keep them low enough I felt comfortable.) Alternating Tylenol/Motrin as I know to do at this point...

blahblah...


Fast forward to the next morning, they are still running relatively high fevers, Mr. AGU and I had a VERY long night, I call my boss because it doesn't appear I'll be at work.


Fast forward another few hours. Lil Bit, perfectly fine, bouncing off the walls. Driving me nuts. Tid Bit....not so much. She's lethargic, won't quit crying. Still burning up with a fever. at 11:45 am, it was 104.5. I gave her Tylenol. By 12:30... it was 105.3. I start making the plans to head to the ER.

This isn't my first rodeo, I have four kids for the love of Pete. But I could NOT break this kids fever. She was convulsing violently from chills and sobbing... I'm in the middle of getting her dressed and she goes limp.

Rag.Doll.Limp. She's out.

I slap her (gently) I yell her name, I tickle her... she will not come to. My baby won't wake up.

Now... I'm not even going to describe that moment because I'm not sure I can. The best I can do is what I've told everyone who has asked what happened.

I've never, not once in my life, EVER been that fucking terrified.

She was unresponsive, so I threw her and her sisters in the truck and booked it to the ER.

And caught every.damn.red. light. on the way there.

Mr. AGU actually beat me there form work. She was out cold the entire time.
Mr. AGU yanked her out of her car seat, and she came to, crying..

I've never been so relieved to hear one of my kids scream.

He ran her inside and I parked the car, He already had her signed in and was soothing her when I finally got in the building.

We bought cold water bottles from the vending machine and rubbed them on her, made her drink as much as she could handle.

And waited. And we waited some more.

For an hour and a half.

And then, hahaha, funny joke on Mama AGU... her fever is broken. She is nice and sweaty and cool.

And the nurse looks at me like I'm nuts and actually had the audacity to ask me if my thermometer was broken. (I didn't slap the bitch I swear but my GOD did I want to...)

We were dismissed. Literally. They didn't even do a full work up on my child. I was so disgusted I have actually informed my insurance company if they get a bill from that hospital they are to shred it, no services were rendered.

I already paid for the fucking water.

Since then, we've had multiple conversations with the Pedi (who is equally disgusted as we are at their lack of treatment for my Tid Bit) and he examined her and said there are no lasting effects of the possible Fibral Seizure. (No way to know. Seeing as how the hospital didn't do anything.)

Turns out Tid Bit and Lil Bit have a nasty viral throat infection that's going around. (Which, had they done a strep test, would have saved me money on antibiotics they prescribed to cover their ass as they did nothing.)

The Pedi is confident she will make a full bounce back recovery. I trust HIM so it's all good.


But God is good. All the time. I'm pretty sure my children all have amazing Guardian Angels. How else do you explain Lil Bit's immune system of steal, Tid Bit's ability to shrug off near death experiences, and Bitty Bit's ability to bump into every piece of furniture in my home with her HEAD and not concuss herself... Lil Man has a good immune system as well, and narrowly escaped breaking his foot and neck recently...

Guardian Angels.. saving my Midgets, and I'm very VERY thankful.

(go hug your babies...)