Gracie

It has been an extremely rough weekend. Grace came home on Friday not feeling well. She spent the entire weekend with a very high 103.7 +/- fever both days along with vomiting and sore throat. We figured (Chad did) she had the flu. I told him yesterday morning we should take her to the pediatrician while he was open because I suspected strep throat. But oh no, did I listen to my mommy instinct? Of course not. Gracie doesn't usually run a fever unless she is really sick and then when she does her normal body temp is 97.3 so 103 is high, but even more so when your normal body temp is lower than what is "normal". Well today with still that very high fever and her not being to keep down liquids at all, let a lone medicine, we did call the pediatrician and thankfully he was on-call. He suspected strep as well and thought she may need to have an IV for some fluids. So in we take her and she is so brave. She gets through with triage and into a room we go. She got hooked up to the IV. She didn't cry or even wince. A flood of memories come back...

When Grace was first born and had been home about a week, she had to be taken into the hospital. She was very ill and not nursing or bottle feeding. I distinctly watching that ICU nurse trying to get a vein to start an IV and almost had to put it in her skull because her veins were so tiny and dehydrated. It was one of the most scary things that had ever happened to us. Mom even baptised her in the hospital sink because it was so touchy for a couple days there. Even while in the womb Grace was a trooper and incredibly strong.

So tonight I sit here exhausted, trying to not get sick and trying not to lose it. I never knew all of the years before Grace the intensity of the love a parent can have for their child. That natural instinct we have because we know our child better than anyone. We know the ebb and flow of their breathing patterns, we know their souls, we just know. Tonight I am grateful for Gracie being on the other side of the fever, for a family that loves each other so much, for life ~ I am grateful.