The week in Review (March 20)

Tuesday morning came bright and early.  I was really looking forward to seeing my parents, but as with any guest, I had a lot to do before they arrived.  Hoping that Molly was feeling better, I picked her up gingerly and took it as a good sign that she only whimpered a little, rather than cried out.  Unfortunately, she seemed to have more discomfort as I picked her up from the changing table and then later from her high chair.  Eric had left for work and I had loads of laundry to do, not to mention general tidying and cleaning, oh and a friend was coming over with her sons to play.  I did NOT have time to take a child to the doctor...

But, then I became rational.  Something was obviously wrong with Molly.  Nothing else was as important as making sure that whatever was causing her pain wasn't something very serious.  So, I called the nurse helpline to get a professional opinion.  The professional opinion turned out to be : Go to the ER.  Great.  I had resigned myself to making an appointment, but the prospect of sitting in an ER for hours (as well as the fact that the nurse hadn't just said that I should just monitor Molly) sent me over the edge. I called Eric and immediately broke down.  Eric did not even hesitate.  He immediately offered to take Molly to the ER.  He'd only been at work for about 10 minutes.  He came home, collected our little invalid along with her stuffed animal, some water, a snack, and a brief description of what had happened at play group and headed for an unknown stay at the hospital.

In some ways, it was a blessing that Molly was otherwise occupied.  I was able to sweep without her playing in the dust.  I was able to load the dishwasher without her unloading it.  And I was able to sort the laundry without her mixing up my piles.  I was able to get a lot of work done because I could occupy the boys with PBS kids and did not have to stop every 10 minutes to get Molly something to drink or eat or to pull her from whatever place she had climbed.  But, I had that mild stress in the back of my mind that wears you down.  I really didn't believe anything was wrong, but what if it was?  How would I handle that?

Ok, so after all that build up...It turned out there was nothing seriously wrong.  The final diagnosis, after some x-rays, was bruised ribs.  Molly came back from her 3.5 hour stay at the ER, tired, but continuing to improve.  I gave her a dose of tylenol and after a nap, she was about 75% better.  Still crying out, but her pain was lasting an even shorter amount of time.  By the next morning, she was completely fine.  The rest of Tuesday we got to enjoy our friends' company as well as my parents.  One could look at the ER trip as a waste of time, but the fact it alleviated that stress meant a lot.  We knew Molly was okay.  I could be truly present in the moment with our company and not be constantly wondering if I had done enough for my little girl.  It is rare that I look back at a decision and know I made the right one, but in this instance, I am nearly sure that I did.