Sick baby girl...

We've had some excitement this week in our household---on Monday night I took Emma Claire's temperature before bed and it was 104.4. We immediately called her pediatrician, who said she'd meet us at the ER. Our poor baby spent a couple hours in the ER being poked and prodded, which she of course did NOT like at all. Her heart rate, which should have been in the 130's, was 215 and her white blood count was elevated. They did a chest x-ray, a spinal tap, drew blood, put in a catheter, and tried three times to put in an IV (unsuccessfully). At 2am we were admitted to a room and tried our best to get some sleep while they ran tests on everything. Tuesday morning they tried four more times to put in an IV and finally succeeded on the fourth try. Emma Claire was so dehydrated that it was hard to find a vein that worked...it was pure torture on her AND her worried mama and daddy. We spent the day hanging out while they still tried to figure out what was going on, and Emma Claire got fluids and antibiotics through her IV. We spent another restless night--EC in a big cage-like crib and Ben and I sharing a tiny twin hospital bed---and were finally released yesterday afternoon. The final conclusion was that she just had a bad double ear infection and some type of virus. She's feeling much better and is starting to act like her sweet, happy self again. Not a fun way to spend a few days before Christmas, but we're thankful that it wasn't anything serious. Hopefully 2008 will be a healthier year for our family!