Our trip to the ER

All weekend long Kennedy Jane has had a yucky cough and a low grade fever that we attributed to teeth b/c she is cutting her two bottom two-year molars. Last night we were at the table and I was trying to get her to eat some dinner and she got very lethargic. She could barely stay awake and her eyes were really glassed over. Its SO not like her, she wouldn't fall asleep in her high chair if she had been awake for 3 days. So I checked her temp and it was 102.5 so I put in the bathtub to see if it would bring it down. While in the bathtub she got even more lethargic, so much so that she almost passed out in the bathtub. Of course it scared the hell out of me and I got her out of the tub and we went to the ER.

We get checked in the ER and the triage nurse tells me her temp is down and that basically her being lethargic was normal and sent us back out to wait. THREE hours go by and everyone but us has been seen along with other people who came in after us. Apparently they don't think a sick toddler is a priority. We finally go back to "fast track" and wait there another hour. By this point Kennedy Jane is beyond over it and so tired, her fever was back up. The PA comes in and says that we "picked the wrong night to come up there". I thought I might just lose it on him and told him in not so kind words that I certainly didn't "pick" to come up there and wouldn't be here if my child didn't almost pass out in the bathtub. He tells me its an ear infection but now we need to wait for the doctor to tell us for sure its an ear infection.

I have to ask for Tylenol b/c by this point Kennedy Jane is really upset and her fever is back up over 102. We have to wait for the nurse who finally gives it to her, then the doctor who says sure enough its an ear infection. Then we have to wait for them to fill out paperwork BEFORE we can get the antiobiotic shot that we then have to wait 20 more min to make sure there is no reaction. FIVE hours later and we are finally going home.

We got home and her fever was still over 102 so I gave her Motrin and got in the bed with her. She took about 30min to finally go to sleep but was really restless until around 2:30am when I checked and her fever was gone and she was soaked from sweating off the fever. I woke her up and gave her more Tylenol just in case the fever came back and moved her to the dry side of the bed (I didn't want to get her really awake by changing her clothes and the sheets) and she went on back to sleep and slept until 9:45 this morning! She never sleeps that late.

Overall she has felt pretty good today I think. No more fever, thank goodness. She has been a bit cranky and doesn't feel like eating much but she is taking a good nap and hopefully the antibiotics are doing the trick and she will be all better by tomorrow.

The ER experience was just horrible, I understand that people use the ER for the wrong purpose but I do NOT. I would not subject my child to that b/c she had a cold or even an ear infection. I talked to the pediatrician's nurse today and asked if I did the right thing. She said that we absolutely did and that they should have been more concerned about the fact that she was so lethargic and that if it happened again we need to go back. I will NEVER go back to Providence again if I can help it, that place is just horrible and so incredibly insensitive.