Sunday, April 12, 2009

Insert Mommy Guilt Here

I hope everyone had a very Happy Easter. Ours was quiet and relaxing. We missed church (boo hoo - read on) but still were able to enjoy time as a fam and spend some time outside gardening.

Sunday proved to be the most low key day of the weekend and a perfect end to a very busy Spring Break.

One highlight of the weekend was the 7 hours in the ER with my sweet B on Saturday. I think I mentioned last week that she was sick with what I thought was the stomach virus. So, at first I thought it just must have come back. At many times during her sickness I even told her that there was nothing I could do for her hurting tummy. Insert serious mommy guilt here.

Yet, at another point this weekend, I even gave her Pepto Bismol because I thought she ate too much junk food while with Gramma. She promptly threw that up and every other thing in her tummy. Insert even more mommy guilt here.

But you can see where I thought it was the stomach bug, right? RIGHT? Please say yes and make me feel better.

Anyway, after two weekends in a row of the same exact symptoms my hubby made the suggestion I take her to Urgent Care. ( I did call the doctor last week but they really thought it was the stomach virus, too and she actually got better for about 4 days. And yes, I need to tell you this to reassure you that I am not as bad at this mommy thing as it may seem. )

The doctor at the Urgent Care told me he could not rule out appendicitis because of the pain in her lower right abdomen. She had pain in all of her abdomen but since it was also in that lower right area in addition to the fever, nausea and vomiting, I was directed to immediately take her to the ER for a cat scan to rule it out.

At the hospital, they ended up giving my sweet 8 year old daughter morphine for the pain and make her drink this yucky stuff so they could see inside her belly for the cat scan. Since she was throwing up everything she put in her mouth they gave her some anti-throwing up medicine. It did not work. She threw up about half of the meds for the scan. I freaked out a little bit and called the nurses who PROMPTLY cleaned it up.

After they cleaned her and the room up she said, "Mom, when I get home, I'm going to send them a thank you note." She is so good about thinking of others - even when she is sick.

So, after we settled in, I just curled up next to her in the bed and stroked her little face so she would fall asleep. She actually thanked me for staying at the hospital with her. Like I would be anywhere else.

At last, I was able to sing out an ALLELUIA when they told me the results just showed a very very bad UTI, possible kidney infection and NOT Appendicitis. No surgery. Just antibiotics and a trip to the Urologist later this week.

The crazy thing is that I then remembered her complaint, from couple weeks ago, of pain when she went pee. But she never complained of pain again after that morning, so I didn't take her to the doctor. Insert major mommy guilt here. Maybe it could have all be avoided if I'd just been proactive then. She must have a pretty high tolerance for pain, though. In the last 2 weeks she only complained about that pain once. By the time we reached the hospital on Saturday she told the nurse the pain in her tummy was about a 6.

Break. My. Heart.

We finally got home and put B to bed after 11:00 that night. I still had to make a trip to Walmart and finally finished my preparations for the Easter Bunny around 1:00 in the morning.

So, that is why the next morning after everyone found their baskets from the good ole' Easter Bunny, that I went back to bed. At this point, recuperation for everyone was in order. We ended up having a quiet little family dinner by ourselves which was nice for a change. My daughter said, "Mom, this is nice because usually all the kids are at one table and the adults at another. This Easter we all get to sit together!" Sounds good to me.

How about you? How did you spend your Easter Sunday?


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8 comments:

Terra said...

Janel, I have written many a posts with that same mommy guilt phrase typed in - we all do it. I am sorry it was such an emotional weekend but I sure am glad everyone is OK!

Unknown said...

So glad you were able to figure out what was wrong and that every one was on the mend for the Holiday.

BEing a mom is tough! Sometimes we make the right call and sometimes we don't. Don't beat yourself up for too long!

Unknown said...

{{{{Janel}}}hugs for you and B. Don't put to much bad mommy guilt on yourself, most of us have been right there with you. I hope B will be feeling much better soon, poor sweet thing. I loved the sending a thank you note to the ER, you are raising her right!
We missed church too, due to being in the Keys on vacation, and me not doing my best homework on finding out service times at the Catholic Church. We said some prayers as a family and talked about our Risen Lord and I vowed to do better if we travel on Easter again. I had picked up a few goodies for the kids, they are all too old to believe in the EB, but we still get treats, shouldn't everyone...:).
I hope your day today is better.......take care.

Stefani said...

Janel,

I am so glad to hear that B is on the mend. Don't feel too guilty about not taking her in sooner. I too am not one to rush to the doctor for every little pain.

All moms need a little grace sometimes. :)

Happy Easter!

GladMom24 said...

I'm so glad B is better and it was an easy fix! it is so hard sometimes to tell what is wrong. and truly belly pain & nausea/vomiting is an unusual sign for UTI. grayce had n/v and belly pain for 2 days that turned out to be constipation! i really felt dumb. but at this age they are suddenly so private and vague-who knew? I love the thank you note to the nurses! being one i can tell you that would so make someones day!
no more mommy guilt you did the right thing.

jen@odbt said...

I'm sorry to read this. I hope B is feeling much better. Your daughter is so sweet to be thinking of others when she's so sick. I love her gesture of thanking the nurses.

Anonymous said...

I do hope she is feeling better now, nothing is worse than your child being sick and we have all been there (mommy guilt) before.
Erin had a bad UTI when she was younger and they also thought it was appendicitis. Glad you were able to stay home as a family and recoup together! You are a wonderful mom and don't you worry about the mommy guilt!!!

deb browning said...

oh my goodness! Same thing happened with my daughter three years ago on New Years Day!! I feel your mommy guilt!

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