I am exhausted. (Long pause) To dive into this weekend's events may take a very long time. It was full of so much good, so much bad and so much work. It is still only Sunday morning and yet I feel that it should already be Monday. Longest weekend ever.
Of course it started early on Friday. Since Alex took the day off to help me care for Eleanor it felt like the weekend already. As he was getting ready for work that morning and I was rocking Eleanor in her room, I decided work was just not going to happen for Alex. I needed to work a full day Friday and there was no way Eleanor would cooperate. She was being hyper-needy. Which is ever so cute, but not good for productivity. Usually Alex's work would come first on a normal day. I can make up hours whenever, he certainly can't go in at night and teach. But this weekend was the Girls on the Run 5k presented by Iredell Health System and I could not take the day off.
I did arrange my schedule to accompany them to Eleanor's morning pediatrician appointment, a follow-up from the previous day. Despite my frustrations with her peds, we kept the appointment because she was a sick baby and finding a new doctor on short notice didn't seem like a great solution. We saw the PA Friday morning and with Alex's support we discussed our concerns. She was open to the conversation and assured us that she would also talk with the doctor's about their attitude toward our choices. We did, however, move forward and have blood drawn to check for bacterial infections. I'm not sure I mentioned it on Friday but Eleanor had been running a temperature of 104 degrees since Tuesday night.
After the doctor appointment I went about my work and left Alex at home with a very crabby baby. Around noon the PA contacted us with some news about Eleanor's blood work. Her white blood cell counts were ok, but were producing immature new cells. She felt concerned enough to "book us a room at Levine's" as Alex likes to put it. We threw ourselves into crisis mode. Could Eleanor really be sick enough to be admitted into the children's hospital? What was I going to do about the 5k?
I made arrangements to cover for me during set-up that evening at Lowe's Corporate Headquarters. It wasn't easy. There was a ton of communication happening, everyone had to pitch in to make it work. I was on the phone pretty much from noon until 9pm that night arranging everything. It was exhausting.
While I went about work, Alex started packing bags and finding a dog sitter. We knew they wanted us to stay overnight so Eleanor could be observed. We were packed and ready to go and on the road to Charlotte at 3pm. It took quite a while to get all of our arrangements in place. We drove separately, knowing that regardless I would have to leave in the wee hours of the morning to be back in Mooresville for the 5k.
Alex beat me to the hospital and checked Eleanor in. I was close behind and we settled in for the evening.
I set up shop and continued working while doctors and nurses came in and out to check on Eleanor. They all agreed that she looked well enough. They didn't run any more tests since our pediatrician had already done a urine sample, a nose swab and blood work. We waited as one by one test results came in. The urine sample was negative for UTI or any other infections. The nose swab came back negative for any viral infections. So we just continued to wait. I am very thankful they didn't feel the need to run an IV or fluids. While she wasn't nursing much, she still seemed well hydrated. In fact, she seemed pretty happy even.
Except for being at the hospital, it might have seemed like a normal day for us. Me on my computer, Alex watching TV and Eleanor playing with her toys. Of course she was more tired than usual, and a little grumpier, but her demeanor was pretty great overall. We questioned many times why we were even at the hospital. I think in many ways our caregivers at Levine's also questioned the decision to send us here overnight as well.
Around dinner time they did give us the option to return home with a shot of antibiotics. We would have to follow up on Saturday and our only option would be to take her to an urgent care. Our second option would be to just stay overnight at the hospital. It seems like a silly decision but we opted to stay at the hospital. For starters, we were already settled in. We had already arranged everything back at home and at work to be gone, and to visit an urgent care would cost us another sizeable copay. They handed us a couple of meal tickets for dinner and brought us blankets. We got comfortable for the night.
My story is becoming very lengthy so we will just fast forward through a sleepless night (hospital beds are not the most comfiest). We swapped turns sleeping with Eleanor in our arms. Finally around three in the morning I was awake and not going back to sleep. I got ready to leave and just hit the road early, heading home to shower, take the pup out and eat some breakfast. I left Eleanor in her daddy's care while I put on my work hat for the day.
The day started out perfectly. While we were expecting thunderstorms, the rain held off in the distance as we set up for the Girls on the Run 5k. While the wee hours of the morning crawled by, time went into warp-speed once we were at Lowe's and setting up. Before I knew it the girls and their families had all arrived and it was just minutes before the 5k began!
It was an awesome event (as always). It never ceases to amaze me that all these girls accomplished their goals. And it is not lost on me how lucky I am to have this job. Several times throughout the morning I caught myself choked up. When the 5k began and the girls took off I coughed back tears. And when I finally stopped moving for five seconds to take in the past 24 hours and the whirlwind of a weekend I had had, the tears could hold back no longer. I turned and gave my friend Brittney a hug and finally told her where Eleanor was.
It wasn't long after that I talked to Alex on the phone and he told me they checked her temperature and Eleanor no longer had a fever. And by the time the 5k was over and we were cleaning up he was already home with her, safe and sound. Her blood culture results all came back normal and we still have no idea what caused the fever. I have heard many of those tests can be inaccurate. But today she is still doing well, although a little more docile than usual.
I was exhausted on Saturday. Alex made me lunch when I finally arrived home. His mom drove down for the afternoon and we all decided to get out of the house and walk around the Race City Festival downtown. The rest of the day it was quiet. The gloominess of the sky aided our ability to relax and rest at home. Around seven that night I was fast asleep in bed.
Fast forward again to this morning (Sunday). The gloom is still resting in the sky, and we are quietly resting at home. We skipped church, something we never do. Alex is also very sick today and Eleanor and he are both napping as I type out this post. After 12 solid hours of sleep last night, I am feeling recovered from this weekend, but still thankful for the quiet morning. And very thankful for my happy baby who is feeling much better!
Future GOTR Girl!
