My poor little girl!

So, about two days after we got back from the Big Apple, Baby Girl started running a fever. Normally, I assume she has a virus and wait a few days before taking her to the pediatrician, but for some reason, this seemed a bit different, so I took her to the doctor on Tuesday, just the second day of fever-running. The doctor couldn't really find anything wrong with her except that her throat was a bit red. She did a strep culture, which came back negative, so she backed up my thoughts that it was just a virus and I should treat her with motrin for her fever and wait it out. Only thing was, she didn't have any of the other traditional viral symptons, snot, sneezing or coughing, just really high fevers. Also, she was crying almost constantly and wouldn't sleep anywhere except with me. So, by Friday, she wasn't doing any better and I was about to lose my mind from lack of sleep.

Back to the pediatrician's office we went. This time, we got to see Baby Girl's regular doctor and she was as baffled as I was as to what was causing my little one's suffering. Baby Girl had lost nearly a pound in the four days since we brought her in the first time, which, when you only weigh 27 pounds to start off with, is a lot! She was down around the 15th percentile for weight-to-height! Dr. C started by running a flu culture, which was negative, then she proceeded to do some bloodwork and taking a urine sample. I was able to stay in the room while they drew the blood, but just couldn't do it while they catheterized the poor kid. By this point, I was pretty much freaking out, with my mind going wild with ideas of what was wrong with her. The leading theory focused on my friend in New York who works as a port chaplain at the port of Newark. The Rev came and visited us at our hotel while we were in New York and was running a fever at the time. So, my worried mommy-brain was just convinced that Baby Girl had contracted some rare exotic disease from her Auntie Rev!

Okay, so it didn't turn out to be anything so serious as that, but it still wasn't good. Baby Girl had a UTI. No wonder the poor kid was crying so much. She was in pain! It killed me that it took a week to figure it out. The only thing worse than having a bladder infection yourself is when your child has one. I would've taken her place in a heartbeat to save her that suffering!

After a couple of days of anti-bugs, she was doing a lot better, so I've spent the last week getting her reacquainted with her own bed. That has basically sucked since she now realized that sleeping with Mommy is so much better than staying by yourself in a crib. We had to start all over teaching her that her bed is where she belongs. The first night we tried, she cried for and hour and a half before finally giving up and going to sleep. I know what you're thinking, "What kind of mean mother lets her kid cry for that long?" Trust me, I thought it pretty much constantly while we were going through it, but it's for her own good. I start out by letting her cry for 5 minutes, then going in and laying her back down. Then I add five minutes between each subsequent return. Usually, she's out by the end of the first five minutes, on a bad night she'll make it to the 10 minute stretch. Well, that night she made it well into a 30 minute stretch! The next night, she only cried for about two minutes, but she stood up in her crib for nearly 45 minutes before finally falling asleep on her feet and then falling over. Each night after that got better and two nights ago, she went to bed with no fuss and stayed in bed until 7:00am! Woo hoo! We were back to normal! Yeah, well, that got killed last night!

Hubby and I went out to dinner with another couple and when we got back, Baby Girl and Mom-in-Law were sound asleep in my bed! UGH! I tried to transfer her to the nursery, but that just wasn't happening! She "slept" with me the rest of the night. I use the term slept loosely since she tossed and turned the majority of the night. Sleeping with a toddler is nearly impossible and as a result, I am incredibly tired today and less than happy with M-i-L. I wonder how long getting her to sleep in her own bed with take tonight.....back to square one we go!

So, tomorrow I will tell you all about our second birthday party at the house and then I will be all caught up on the major events that have happened since I started getting lax in posting!