Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Sick toddler

Today just as I was about to drive off to my first acupuncture appointment the kindergarten called to tell me Emma was vomiting so I immediately canceled my appointment (much to the very vocal displeasure of the practitioner) and went to pick her up.

"Magen und darn" (gastroenteritis) is going around kindergarten and it's very contagious. Looks like that's what she's got. Good thing Steph is traveling - hopefully he'll not have caught it.


Emma vomited again in my arms as I tried to console her in kindergarten, then again as we arrived home and again while we waited for it to be time to leave for our doctor's appointment.

Poor little one. The first times she got very upset (I think she was scared never having vomited before) but gradually she got used to it and seemed to realize that although it's awful it passes rather quickly. On the other hand, she does try to stop the convulsions by holding her dummy in her mouth
.

As luck would have it our pediatrician is away all week and the replacement one doesn't work Wednesday afternoons. I ended up calling Dr. G. who we've never been to and whose name was given to me by another pregnant mother who does Pilates with me. He seemed very nice on the phone and speaks good English and is not too far away. Let's hope for the best.


(...)



Dr. G. was great! No fuss, no waiting, quick diagnosis, friendly and efficient. Emma did not scream once (not like with that awful Dr. R who had less bedside manner than a hibernating bear you might have mistakenly sat on!). Anyway, it is stomach flu so basically we hydrate and wait for it to pass. No solids until Emma can hold down water for at least five hours (right now it's more like 30 minutes).


So tonight we skipped dinner and our bath after Emma said "d'abord dodo" (sleep first) when I suggested we bath before bed-time. Awwww. It's really tough having a sick babe, but at least now she can tell me what she needs - in this case sleep - it makes things a lot easier.


Hopefully tomorrow she'll be feeling better and stronger. And hopefully with some luck I will manage not to catch the virus myself.

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