Finally Among the Living

So in that last post, when I said Molly was on the mend, what I really meant was that she was spiraling down into the stubborn toddler virus from hell. She flat out refused to eat really anything. And barely drank any water either. I mean, we eventually acquired everything that normally works in this situation (thanks Karen). But if I came near her with a Popsicle or a Sprite, she started screaming and turning away. We couldn't go anywhere that required her to get out of the car, so for 5 days straight we watched TV and Molly mostly just stayed on the couch in her pathetic way while I tried to get her to ingest something with actual calories. And 5 days is a long time! Especially for someone who weighs 25 pounds.

Finally on Sunday night I called the on-call doctor emergency number and got one of our pediatricians. I thought he would reassure me, but he kind of freaked me out. Telling me what I needed to do, and when I should take her to the hospital (like really soon). I got her to drink a little water, put her to bed, and then stared at the ceiling in my bedroom all night worried. I took her to the doctor's office first thing Monday morning, and she actually was in a decent mood. But still not eating or drinking. Our pediatrician told me I had until 1pm that afternoon to get her going or I had to take her to the emergency room for intravenous fluids. She told me what I had to do, and it sucked. But spending the day with Molly hooked up to an IV sounded even worse. So Molly and I spent the morning on the couch watching Care Bears while I held her down every few minutes and squirted Pedialyte in her throat while she screamed. Awesome. Things still weren't looking too good, but then right down to the wire at one she had a wet diaper. I put her down for a nap.

About an hour later, she woke up and declared "I need sandwich." Which she did. Along with a bunch of juice and water and bacon (I'm catering to whims at this point). And just like that, she was totally back to normal. Fighting with Porter, screaming I'll do it about everything and being her usual self.

When I was getting her ready for bed tonight, I did notice that her poor little ribs are sticking out from her chest like they never have before. But I'm pretty sure that's nothing a little ice cream won't fix. She really had me worried there for a bit (along with my mom), but I'm glad she's back. And I'm glad I can still keep my zero ER visits in 5 years of parenting record for just a little while longer.