When Daddy Is Away...

...the you-know-what hits the fan. In the form of a day at the hospital with Charlie-Bug.

A few weeks ago, Brian had to go out of town for work. When this happens, it's usually a manageable night or two in Houston (or at least somewhere in the continental U.S.). This time, however, he had to go to China for eight whole days. Needless to say, I had been dreading this trip for months!

To make matters worse, Charlotte had been feeling yucky all week. I had taken her to a local pediatric urgent care on Thursday, and they could find nothing wrong. On Saturday morning, Brian left before dawn, and Charlotte woke up in obvious pain. I took her back in to the pediatric urgent care and despite running all kinds of tests (including one involving a catheter to check for UTI), they still couldn't find anything. By Sunday she was absolutely miserable and screaming every time she peed, so I decided enough was enough and off to Cook's ER we went. Fortunately, my mom was able to watch Jensen and my dad was able to come to Cook's with me.

Well...the doctor at Cook's took one look at her ears and proclaimed that she had "disgusting" double ear infections (nope, not sure how the doctors at the pediatric urgent care missed that. But that's another story.). They also noticed that she was extremely dehydrated, so they began an IV to get some fluids into her. In addition to all this, she was still screaming when she peed, so they went ahead and ordered blood work, abdominal and kidney x-rays, and an ultrasound of her abdomen. Everything came back normal, thank goodness, except for some debris in her bladder. Basically they think that her original problem was the double ear infections (again...missed TWICE by the urgent care place...can you tell I'm super happy about that??), and that the catheter done by the urgent care place did a bit of damage and caused the pain when she peed. I'm so thankful that nothing major was wrong, but so upset that poor Charlotte had to go through a LOT of trauma due to something as simple as ear infections. We were there all day long and truly, it was one of the worst days of my life. Physically holding your child down while someone inflicts pain on her, all the while listening to her cry and scream, "Mommy, please hold me! Please pick me up! I want YOU to make me feel better!" is something I hope to never go through again...and yet, it makes me once again feel blessed to have two children who are healthy.

And Brian, meanwhile, was fast asleep in China while all this was going on. There was no way I was going to call or text him before I figured out what was going on...he would have freaked out knowing all this was happening while he was so far away. He happened to wake up for the day and call just as we were getting ready to leave the hospital, so I got to fill him in on our fun-filled day.

Charlie's IV. They originally did an IV and blood draw on her hand, but wound up having to do another on her arm. And then another when some of the blood they took clotted. So fun.

Nap time at the hospital.

This was at the very end of the day. Finally feeling a bit better, getting her first dose of IV antibiotics while enjoying pumpkin bread. (Starbucks located inside the hospital = genius.)

Grandpa enjoyed the cafeteria food as well!

So...that was, fortunately, the most eventful part of Brian being out of town. Oh, and remember my sweet little puppies I was fostering? While I was at the hospital with Charlotte, another volunteer came and picked them up...I was seriously in over my head with a very sick little girl and a husband out of the country. I didn't even get to say goodbye...but I did get to go spend some time with them the next weekend, so that was nice. The kids were a bit sad that they're gone, but I think Wyatt is secretly pleased (and Brian is not-so-secretly pleased!) to be puppy-less.

Brian returned home from China with souvenirs for the kids and a bad case of daddy guilt for being gone (even though he has no reason to feel guilty...a work trip to China is not exactly the same as eight days on the beach in Mexico!). Still, I was extremely happy to have him home. I always knew he was a great dad and helped a ton with the kids, but I'm not sure I realized exactly how much he does around here. I'm happy that his next long work trip won't be for a loooong time (and even then, I may just pack little Charlotte in his suitcase!).