I have so much to fill you in on that it's not even funny.
Two weeks ago, we had our first ER visit. Friday, 09/18, Audrey woke up with a fever 100.3 (probably higher but our Temporal Thermometer is ridiculous) and Daddy stayed home with her. I made her an appointment to see the doctor that day, but the earliest they could see me was 5pm. But, soon after I spoke to the nurse she didn't feel like it was necessary for us to come in... And, then around 2:30 Shawn called me at work and insisted I get home ASAP. I called the doctor again and got in to see them at 6:45PM (on a Friday, by the way). Got home to find vomit all over the living room floor and Shawn rocking a almost naked Audrey in her room. Her fever got up to 102 and she was very uncomfortable. Audrey gave the doctor a lot of attitude and screamed at him every time he touched her. Her ears were clear, her chest was clear, throat normal... no reason for such a high fever... except her shunt maybe? So, he sent us to the emergency room, we got right in after 20 minutes. And, Audrey gave them a piece of her mind - they drew blood, attempted 3 times to get a urine sample by administering a catheter. That's when Momma stepped out of the room because I couldn't take it. When I walked back in the room I could tell that she had peed on the ER Doctor - Audrey 1 Doctor 0. So, once they were finished and out of the room, Audrey collapsed out of exhaustion and fell asleep in my arms. She wouldn't let us put her down on the bed so Daddy and I had to take shifts holding and rocking her. The tests all came back negative - even a flu test. After speaking to Neurology, they didn't feel like it was her shunt and that it was only a Viral Syndrome and sent us home.
She had a fever all weekend long, Monday rolled around and still feverish, Tuesday rolled around (about 4am when Audrey was ready to wake up) and I found red spots ALL over her belly. Tuesday was the beginning of our vacation and about this time we were 95% sure we weren't going on our trip. We got Audrey in to see the doctor at 9:40am... Doc came in and took 2 looks at Audrey and said she had Roseola. He said once the fever tapers off, the viral infection causes a rash and then is non-contagious. He gave us the green light that she could go to daycare the following day, which gave Mommy and Daddy the green light to leave on their little getaway 3 hours away.
The following day we left for the Inn Above Onion Creek - had a wonderful time and Friday before we headed back to the big D - we stopped in Wimberly, Tx and did the Wimberly Zipline Adventure. It was AWESOME!!!
Last week, Audrey was in a mood. She refused to eat, drooled like crazy, cried uncontrollably, refused all bottles except her morning bottles. On Tuesday, Shawn and I were this close () to taking her to the emergency room for dehydration. She only took 10 oz of milk that day, refused her lunch and dinner, and had some massive blowouts - two wardrobe changes at daycare. She had big dark circles under her eyes when I picked her up and even her teacher said she was acting a little different and she was worried about her. So... I took those concerns home, we watched her carefully and attempted to give her milk, juice, pedialyte, water and all were refused by Audrey. She hadn't had a wet diaper since 1pm that day at daycare and a blowout at 4:00 - At 7pm she was wearing the same diaper she came home in and it was BONE dry. We decided to let her go to sleep at 7pm. At 8:30, Shawn suggested we go to bed because he was thinking it was going to be a long night. I laid in bed until 9pm worried sick about Audrey so I called the Pedi's emergency nurse's line. The nurse said that she may have a virus and I told her she just got over Roseola, she suggested I try to give her more fluids, but not juice because that can make diarrhea worse, and not milk, and not pedialyte because some babies find it too salty tasting. She suggested that if we had Gatorade, we should try to give her diluted Gatorade... so that's what I did. We drink grape G2 - I mixed 2 oz of G2 and 2 oz of water with half strength thickening gel. I picked her up out of bed, she took the fluids while sleeping and then I put her back in bed. I set my alarm for 1am to check on her -but woke up an hour early. I was relieved to find that her diaper was a little squishy :) And, even squishier in the morning!
So, the rest of the week sort of went the same way and she started to eat and drink a little more each day. By Saturday, she was BACK!
Why she was suffering through this, we have absolutely no idea. We are leaning towards teething... and yet they haven't popped through so maybe they're on break?
And Lastly...
Audrey had her annual evaluation with ECI. They are pleased with her progress and gave us the ultimate compliment - She's the happiest baby they have seen.
Here's the breakdown:
Social Development: 16 Months - RIGHT ON TARGET!!!
Cognitive Development: 13 Months - Only 3 months behind!?!?! That's not bad at all - but to us she's a genius because really whose first word in sign language is "Penguin"? Only a genius, right? Audrey's a thinker, she contemplates everything!
Physical Development: 10 Months - 6 Months behind which of course could be due to her 3 different serial castings that totaled 6 Months of her life and then 6 months of Full-time bracing. So, she spent a full year of life without the ability to learn what her legs can do. She's had 4 months to figure out what she can do and she can get up on her hands and knees, she can stand against furniture for almost a full minute, she knows how to bounce in her jumper, she knows where her feet are, she kicks and kicks her legs.
Our goals for the next 6 months are to have her drinking from a sippy cup, feeding herself independently, we know she'll be crawling but we want to get her to walk around furniture, and to continue to work on her vocabulary.
Tomorrow, Audrey's Nana will be having surgery to remove a herniated disk in her neck. She has been suffering for almost an entire month and will finally have some relief in less than 24 hours. It's hard to see my Mom in so much pain. And, you know it's painful when my Mom is hurting because this woman is STRONG. She had my twin sister and I withOUT any pain blocking medication. She pushed out one baby, then 13 minutes later she still had enough strength to push me out and I was the bigger twin. She's an awesome woman and I thank God that He will be there tomorrow guiding the surgeon's hands to remove all my Mom's pain and He'll be there giving my Dad some strength and relief in the waiting room. Please pray that the surgery goes well and my Mom finds some comfort afterwards.
She would not let anyone hold her but Daddy and refused to get in her wagon that her cousin Madi helped decorate with Nana. And, Shawn was dressed up as a 70's Detective.
I think this picture is hilarious because she HATED my beard and would not look at me, talk to me or even let me hold her. (I don't even care that I'm making a weird face - this is pretty funny, plus I was feeling like crud at this point) And, I went as Willie Nelson.
Aunt Staci as a Sexy Kitty Cat and Cousin Madi as a Beautiful Mermaid (she wanted to coordinate with Audrey).
The Under The Sea Wagon
Audrey has the best cousin in the world!! Aren't they cute together?
Trick or Treat!
All-in-all, our first Trick-or-Treating was as successful as it could be. Next year maybe we will see her walking door-to-door. I'd say that the amount of love she receives from EVERYONE makes up for the lack of candy we received. :_
