The Princess and her Magic Washcloth

While doing my normal pre-bed mom rounds last night I found one very sick little girl. I thought her fever broke yesterday evening before dinner so I was quite surprise to kiss her head and have it feel like fire. I knew it was bad, but what the thermometer showed me darn near sent this veteran mom into a panic. 105.8. One O freaking five point eight, that's high even for Briar who always runs high when sick. I immediately went into "get it down" mode. Stripped Briar down to nothing, stole her blankets and gave her Motrin. I didn't toss her in the tub right away because I couldn't decide if we were running to the ER or not. Gave her a few minutes to see if the stripping and meds would pull it down. While waiting to recheck her temp I sat trying to figure out what I would do with the other 4 if we had to go. I'd basically decided I'd take them all if need be. Rechecked Briar and she was down to 105 on the nose. So I knew it was coming down.

Brynn was having a hard time sleeping because Briar was screaming at me over missing blankets and rectal temps. So I made her the "sick bed" 2 antique chairs pushed together and brought her to the living room. I tried talking her into a cool bath, but she just wanted to lay down. So we turned on Princess and the Frog. I proceeded to the kitchen and got a washcloth. She wanted nothing to do with the sponge bath I was trying to give her to get that dang temp down. So I turned it into a fairytale. Briar was the beautiful princess, her wash cloth was magic and the sole purpose the the "magic washcloth" was to keep the Princess from going to the evil ER. Her last visit there she got stitches so now it is evil. I don't know if it was God helping me out, or my quick thinking, but Briar settled down and let me sponge her down even though it was giving her the chills.

I made it through the night on around an hour of sleep. I'm beat today, but trying to sleep with Briar being so sick just wasn't an option. I got a call into the doc and a referral to urgent care. Sent the big 4 off to school. Did yet again MORE running for girl scouts, and then headed to Urgent Care to be there right when the doors opened. Left almost 2 hours later with an antibiotic and a strep throat diagnosis. I picked up the script, came home and found a voicemail letting me know the kids were getting out of school early and canceling tomorrow to boot. So I ran and picked up all my monkeys and now I'm sitting here at 4, caffeinated and STILL half asleep.

My house is a mess and I've got no energy to do a darn thing about it. Here's hoping tonight lets me get just a little more sleep. I'm not sure how many more 1-4 hours of sleep nights I have in me but this is night 8 in a row. But through it all my little baby girl is alright and if lack of sleep keeps her safe and sound I'll do it forever. I just hope it doesn't come to that. I think it's time for a movie for the kids and a cat nap on the couch for me.