Girl Time

Emily woke up at about midnight Monday night with a fever--I gave her some Tylenol and rocked her for a few minutes before putting her back to bed. When she woke up again around 5:30 AM Tuesday, we gave her Tylenol again for the fever. She didn't really have any other symptoms except for a runny nose, but I decided I'd stay home with her. Two hours later, she still had a temperature of almost 101, and I called the doctor's office and they had an open appointment at 9:45.

Mick met us at the doctor and they couldn't find anything really wrong with her--just the low fever, and her congestion and runny nose was causing some redness in her throat. The doctor said she probably just had a virus, and recommended that we treat her symptoms. The tough thing is that she acts happy even when she doesn't feel well, and you have to really know her to see that she's not herself.

All day Tuesday, she ran a fever of about 100.5, and was very snuggly with me (which is always nice), so I knew she didn't feel great. We don't like to give her medicine unless we feel like she really needs it, so I skipped the Tylenol for the rest of the day.

Tuesday night was rough--she went to bed fine, but woke up screaming about an hour and a half later. I've read about night terrors, and we're convinced that's what Emily had Tuesday night. She was soaking wet with sweat and her eyes were open, but she wasn't responding to us at all, and was completely stiff and just screaming. It lasted about 2 minutes, but of course seemed like 30. She finally calmed down and went back to sleep. In about an hour and a half, it happened all over again. This time, it took a little longer for her to calm down, but she finally did. Some of what I've read indicates that lack of sleep or sometimes even a fever can trigger night terrors. Whatever it was, I hope she won't continue to have them.

I decided I'd keep her home again on Wednesday, just because I felt like she needed another day of rest and snuggling (so did I!). She woke up Wednesday morning a little before 7 AM and was happy and fever-free. She was back to herself all day and didn't have any symptoms at all.

She'll be back at school today, and I'm not sure who'll have a harder time--Emily or me!