We moved back to Vienna in early spring '11, we got hooked back up with our local babies group, and Cdubs kept on growing. It was hard to be away from home and always changing, as usual, but we were all doing pretty well. I did not blog because we were doing okay with each other but were at ends about what we are going to do next. They are looking at relocating Kdubs again because Austria will not give me a visa, and we have decided that being apart for long periods is no longer acceptable. So we were "discussing," more like fretting. We finally came up with the idea of coming to Edinburgh for the summer so we can still be legally not in Austria (or in the Schengen region) for 90 days. Not going home to the US meant not having to adjust time zones and not having to spend weeks apart. So now, we are officially living our lives in 90 day increments.
90 days-Vienna
90 days-Edinburgh
90 days-Vienna
90 days-States for Holidays +
Next 90 days cycle--still unknown but probably not Vienna
Funny enough, in all our travels, Cdubs never really got sick. She would get snuffly from teething or have an ezcema flare up, but nothing worth a doctor's call. Until May...She had a bad night and seemed warm, but I attributed it to her sleep sack and the weird changing weather of spring. Woke up and she still seemed warm...so we took her temperature. between 100.5 and 101. All my books said, treat it and don't call the Dr. unless something else seems wrong.
So we gave her some Tylenol and she took an easy day. Halfway through the day, Kdubs suggested putting her in a lukewarm bath, but I said, "oh it isn't that bad yet." I wish I had listened.
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| Telling her peeps she is OK |
It turns out our thermometer was not accurate. She was probably running a fever closer to 102 and 103. Around 4pm, she started having these little starts--she would fall and cry or convulse a little. It was so quick, I almost didn't catch it and Kdubs never did. But I knew something was wrong. So we ran to our Dr.'s office in Vienna (literally ran, since we didn't have a car)....and it was closed. I had called the wrong dr. So we took a cab to another dr that we found somehow (I really don't remember how I found the number). Again, Cdubs seemed okay but warm to Kdubs. We got to the new dr. realizing it wasn't our first dr. and begged her to see us. She examined her, said she had a bit of a fever but if she was having seizures, we should go to the hospital (which she wasn't sure of and Kdubs kept saying, "lets just go home"). Right then, she convulsed and bigger than ever. I panicked and probably yelled more than I should have at the dr. who was on the phone. They gave her an emergency seizure suppressant and called an ambulance. It took all I had to not say to Kdubs, "SEE? TOLD YOU!" We had several days in the hospital for monitoring. She would not break her fever and the worst of it was very scary...the best of it was endlessly watching Elmo (herefornow to be known as Red Devil) and Lady Gaga. |
| Her Favorite: Daddy Recliner |
It was not a fun time, but it did teach us a few things:
a.) that we can survive in a foreign hospital (one of my biggest fears)
b.) that you should never take your family's health for granted (knew it but didn't KNOW it)
c.) that prayer is a power thing (at the worst times, I had a peace that I can only attribute to God and all of our friends praying for us--my mom called my godmother and her daughter who have the largest prayer phone trees in the state).
d.) To just appreciate being together and let God sort out the rest.
So that is what I am doing...and keep reminding myself to do. Every day.
Oh and it taught me to have and use several thermometers!!!
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