A Mother's Instincts

Well, many of you know that when Emma and I got back from our visit with family Emma became very ill.  It started out with a fever of 103 which she had for about 3-4 days.  I immediately contacted her doctor and she suggested I continue to give Emma Ibuprofen and Tylenol to help keep the fever down.  Then on Saturday (day 3) Emma's gums began to swell and were extremely red.  On Sunday I also noticed two sores in her mouth, so I called her doctor and she said it sounded like Emma had Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease.  Finally the fever came down on Sunday afternoon, however Emma's mouth continued to get worse.  Luckily we had an appointment for Emma on Tuesday, so Emma was able to see her doctor in person.  Again the doctor said she had a classic case of Hand, Foot and Mouth, however when I got home my mommy instincts were telling me something more was wrong.  Emma's mouth was so swollen that a couple of her teeth disappeared and she did not have any sores on her hands or feet.  She was not able to eat anything other than jello, yogurt, pudding, and cottage cheese.  After doing research online and talking to the nurse they said it could last up to two weeks. 

Being a first time mom I was really struggling with whether or not I was just worrying because she is my first child or if my mommy instincts were truly telling me something else was going on.  I struggled with this for about two days and then finally when Kent came home Friday I decided I wanted to take her back to the doctors.  So, we headed to the ready car clinic at our doctor's office and were seen by the physician's assistant.  He took a culture of one of the sores and told us it was a staff infection.  He put her on antibiotics and told us that if we did not get a phone call from them that the staff infection was not a resistant staff infection and to continue the antibiotics.  After a day and half of the antibiotics the sores began to heal and the swelling finally began to go down.  Emma is doing much better and is back to being her cheerful, giggly self.

I am so thankful that I listened to my mommy instincts.  I will never doubt my mommy instincts again and I hope other mothers out there don't as well.  If I had not listened to my instincts things could have turned out very differently.  So, my advice to moms is to listen to your mommy instincts.  When it comes to your children it is much better to be safe than sorry. 

My beautiful daughter!