Well, that's a slap in the face

Kathleen woke in the still-dark hours of the morning Sunday, crying that she wanted a cup of cold water. Kathleen's our sleep-like-a-log sleeper; our child who, with what we have since learned is startling consistency, has slept through the night since she was a few months old. So we were surprised to hear her awaken, and quick to respond. As soon as I opened the door I knew what was wrong. The poor child had been sick hours earlier and slept right through it.

So we hustled her into the bathtub and the sheets into the washer. And although Kathleen initially protested that she didn't want a bath -- she just wanted to have some water and go back to sleep -- she was sweet and compliant and surprisingly affectionate. And aside from being a little groggy, the thing we noticed most was that Kathleen was very, very red. All over. If we were still in Hawaii, we might have thought it was a sunburn.

Between the redness and the sickness, we were a little concerned. That night had been the first night of a new medication for Kathleen. She'd been diagnosed with a bladder infection about 12 days before (not fun, let me assure you) and the pediatrician had prescribed a 10-day course of antibiotics to be followed by yet another antibiotic, which Kathleen will take until we know the results of more tests (those should be done Friday). It didn't seem like Kathleen was having an allergic reaction -- not exactly, anyway -- but we thought we should call, anyway.

By the time the pediatrician's office returned our call, Kathleen was fast asleep again. Jim and the nurse talked and decided that if she were still red when she woke, we'd call and bring her into the after-hours clinic. When Kathleen finally woke up (around 9:30, which would've been fantastic, had Madeline not decided to start her day literally 10 minutes after we laid back down in bed) she was still red, so we arranged for a visit to the clinic.

There, the doctor confirmed that it was not an allergic reaction and instead diagnosed Kathleen with slapped cheek fever. We've thought that Kathleen had that before, but since you can only have it once (and a doctor never diagnosed it before, either), we figure we were wrong! Anyway, we spent the rest of the day lying low -- reading stories, watching some dvds, playing Candyland, and -- of course -- reenacting the visit to the doctor with Kathleen's doctor kit.

Our still red little girl, relaxing with some toast and ginger ale, watching a movie. She'd been entranced by the movie in the doctor's office waiting room. When I proposed that we go home and watch a movie, she said (and I'm not making this up), "I think that sounds like a splendid idea!"

Getting sick on Sunday was a double insult to poor Kathleen. First, it meant that she couldn't go to the nursery to play with her friends at church. Secondly, we'd been planning to leave from church to go to Nan and Grandpa's for the week. This is exam week for Daddy, and we figured we'd give him a bit of peace and quiet by heading to the grandparents'. Kathleen couldn't understand why we wouldn't go, since the bags were all packed and waiting on the kitchen table!

We're still hoping to go to Nan and Grandpa's in a few days, and leave Daddy a chance to tackle a 48 hour take-home exam without the circus raging around him. But that's only if everyone stays relatively healthy. Wish us luck -- we don't seem to have much luck in that arena!