Scariest night of parenting yet

About two weeks ago, I had the scariest night yet with Emery.  Around 2:00 that afternoon, she started running a low grade fever, which caused her to be a little fussy and wanting to be held.  Kyle was out of town traveling for business, so I was trying my best to keep him informed over the phone while not trying to freak myself out about what the night might hold.  By 7:00 that night her fever had risen to 102 and she was only sleeping about 30 minutes at a time, then crying until I came in and held her.  You know she's exhausted when she falls asleep without her paci in her mouth.

By 3:30 am her fever was up to 104 and I was packing for the Emergency room.  I had already been on the phone with 24 hour nurse line 4 times at this point, making sure all her symptoms were still normal, but one in particular was really scaring me. Her muscles would randomly spasm, almost like the startle reflex that she had when she was little except with a little more power.  It happened 3 times total, but once while I was giving her a bath (to try to bring down the fever), and I could tell it was scaring Em too.  Right before her bath, Emery also started throwing up.  She was a little dehydrated (drank only about half of her normal amount that day) so I was literally having to help scrape the throw up off her tongue as it was pretty solid.  Luckily about an hour later she drank a good amount of Pedialyte and held that down for the rest of the night.

I feel like there have been so many instances with Emery where Kyle and I say to each other "what should we do now?", but never have I held Emery so close, praying and crying out of fear until that night.  After giving her more medicine and holding her till she fell asleep, we made it till 7:00 that next morning.  After a thorough check up, our pediatrician said that some children are prone to higher fevers when fighting off viruses and Emery is one of those.  (Yes this was the 2nd time she's had to get a catheter to rule out a fever that would come from a UTI).

It's these situations that I realize how blessed I really am.  Specifically for 1) Emery's good health 99% of the time, 2) a husband in town most days to help share the burden of those long nights and most importantly 3) a gracious God who was guiding my decisions and giving me comfort in my moments of fear. 

Here's a picture we sent to Kyle the next day.  Exhausted but on the mend!