Olivia is a tough cookie. She obviously has my level of pain tolerance - very high. She told me Wednesday night that her "butt" hurt. Her butt involves anything covered by her underwear... By the end of the night I was positive that she had a UTI.
BUT, like a dummy, when she woke up Thursday and told me that she didn't hurt anymore, I believed her. Didn't take her to the doctor.
Thursday evening, at almost 5pm, Isabelle and I left to go have some one-on-one time. We were barely 2 miles down the road when Bill called to tell me that I needed to get some cranberry juice for Olivia. OK... Then he informed me that she was crying in the bathroom and there was blood in her urine.
Luckily we were close to a stoplight so I could bang my head on the steering wheel without wrecking us.
So I told him to find the phone book and call the after-hours clinic at Children's Hospital. If she's bleeding I don't want to wait until the next day. She needed to go ASAP.
I'm very proud of Bill. He took care of it like a champ. He better watch out or he might find himself a new job as the family appointment maker.
We made it to the appointment, checked in and sat down to wait. The lady at the desk called me for something and Olivia tugged on my arm. "Mommy, my pants are wet." I was confused... maybe she sat in some water somewhere? No. She had an accident and peed on herself.
I know I had that deer-in-the-headlights look. I know I did. My brain raced trying to find a solution to this. She's been potty trained for almost 2 years, I don't carry around a change of clothes for her anymore. I thought there might be a Pull Up in the van, but I was pretty sure no clothes. Plus, we were next to be called back (they had this neat-o screen that showed who was up next) so I knew we didn't have time to trek out to the van to search.
Sure enough, they were out in a heartbeat to call us back. Olivia was just embarrassed as can be. So I told the nurse what happened. She said that they had some Pull Ups and she might be able to get a pair of pants from the hospital. She gave me a urine sample cup and said that when we were finished to go to room C4 (I swear that's what she said) and she'd have a Pull Up waiting for us.
Now, Olivia just peed on herself. There was no more urine to get a sample. We tried. Didn't happen. It just made her mad to have to pull up her wet clothes when we were done.
I found room C4. The light was off, no chart on the door, no Pull Up inside. I had that "this is going to be a LONG night" feeling and turned on the light and kept a watch for someone to come through.
Which took forever.
Another nurse finally came by. I told her I was pretty sure we were in the wrong room, my child is not happy marinating in her own urine, not to mention that it's almost her bedtime and she's getting bossy and cranky. She was an angel in scrubs. She couldn't find the Pull Ups, but found a huge diaper (Olivia did not care) and got some little kid sized scrub pants for Olivia and led us to B4, where the doctor was waiting on us (and a Pull Up). How often does that happen?
We talked about what was going on, and why there was no urine sample. The doctor left and came back with 3 cups of apple juice, a drinking cup, and a straw. She said "drink until it starts coming out." Yes ma'am. Olivia downed 2 cups in record time and announced she had to go potty. We took our cup and the "hat" (try explaining to a 4 year old that she's going to pee in a hat) and ran to the bathroom. She went (yay!), not much, but I know that they don't need a whole lot. Then it was like slow motion... she wipes... she throws the paper IN THE HAT. I'm diving across the room trying to stop her... NOOOOOOOOO! We managed to still have a little left, but you know I was ready to just beat my head on the bathroom floor by then.
The doc came back, announced that "whatever could be wrong with her urine is wrong with her urine." Blood, protein, all that jazz. She probably has had this for a while and never said a word. I should be used to this... her ear infections as a baby were always horrible by the time she ever let on that she was hurting. But it makes you feel like a horrible mother all the same.
We got our prescription and I left with my poor baby in her big ass diaper and scrub pants. =(
She fell asleep on the way home. Woke up screaming about 10pm. Yes, screaming. We almost went to the ER. I had her in the van, but the Tylenol finally kicked in and she fell back to sleep. I did manage to get the first dose of antibiotics in her. But it was awful. I think I'm pretty tough when it comes to dealing with my kids... I don't fall to peices when they scrape their knees, I can ignore them when they're having a fit, I can handle them crying, no problem... but to see her in real pain, knowing how tough she is... it still makes me want to cry now, after the fact.
I know she'll be back to her normal self today though. I, on the other hand, am exhausted, was late for work, and need some time to recover.
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