Baby IV's are heartbreaking

Maddie has had a fever since Tuesday afternoon when I picked her up from daycare.  We saw the doctor that night and he said to call back if it got worse or if she had any other symptoms.  Yesterday her fever was not going down even with Tylenol.  It eventually got up to 102.8, which was higher than the day before.  She was also fussier than the day before.  So we called the doctor again and they wanted to see her last night.  The doctor wanted to run some tests, but since it was 8 pm, we were sent to the ER. 

The hospital has a new pediatric ER, so we were given a room and seen relatively quickly.  They had to start an IV so they could draw blood.  It was the worse thing I've ever seen.  She screamed.  And screamed.  And screamed some more.  There was no comforting her.  She wouldn't nurse.  Tears were streaming down her face.  Finally, she cried herself to sleep.  Her arm was taped  down to a board so she wouldn't bend it, which was also very hard to watch her struggle with that.

They also had to insert a catheter to collect a urine sample.  She handled that part like a champ.  She managed to get a little bit of sleep, but woke up when they gave her antibiotics through her IV.  Taking out the IV was almost as bad as putting it in.  We finally got home at 1 a.m., I nursed her and she fell asleep.  She did not sleep very well and would periodically wake up crying for a minute.  This morning her temp was down to 99.2, so I'm hopeful that she is getting better.  I really hope so because although I stayed strong last night, I think I'll be a mess if I have to watch her go through that again.