Daughter is ill

[Sammy Boy]

Hello everyone,

My daughter has been ill with high fever since yesterday afternoon. Apart from giving her medicine, we've tried giving her more liquids, but she refuses (very vigorously) whether it's milk, water, or fruit juice. It doesn't matter if it's from a bottle or spoon fed.

Only thing we've been able to give to her in terms of having some liquid is from fruit, such as grapes or watermelon.

I know she's uncomfortable, but sometimes I feel she's prolonging her own discomfort in this way.

Doctor says she can see no signs of infection at this stage, so advised us to just try to keep her temperature under control, but if by Friday the fever continues, we need to test her for urinary tract infection, something we're not looking forward to. (from experience, trying to "catch" urine from a baby girl cleanly is difficult...)

If you could spare a minute to pray for her, we would really appreciate it. Thank you so much.

[ClaecElric4God]

Praying. I hope she gets better soon, and it's not anything serious.

[AdriTan]

Praying! I also hope she gets better quickly!

[Sammy Boy]

Thank you for your prayers, I think she is on the mend!

During this time, I realised again that my faith in God was not strong when it needed to be.

At nights, because my girl was uncomfortable, and possibly traumatised by her visits to the clinic and hospital, she would cry and cry very loudly. On Wednesday night, because we had taken her to our local hospital, we didn't end up getting home until 12 midnight. She did not settle and go to bed until 3am.

I also saw God's hand during this time. For example, before we went to the local hospital I prayed that we would be able to see a doctor quickly and not wait for the whole night. When we got there at around 10pm, there were only two patients in the hospital, and she was seen within the hour.

However, by yesterday afternoon her fever had returned (after being gone since 5am in the morning), and noticed rashes over most of her body. We were concerned about this change so we took her to Westmead Children's Hospital. On the way there it was traffic jammed because it was peak hour after work, and yet I noticed the beauty of the sky and clouds - grey mixed with blue and white. Seeing that helped me remember God's love and his beautiful creation.

The doctor at the hospital there checked her and said it was probably a virus, but really wanted us to get a urine sample from her. We explained we had tried several times, but because of her illness she was reluctant to drink.

We tried water, milk, baby fruit juice - via bottle, spoon, or syringe - she would always only take a little. The doctor then explained because she was a girl, there was a possibility of urinary tract infection, hence they suggested if we could not get the urine, they may have to use a catheter. We didn't want to traumatise her further, but if we didn't do this, and she really had UTI, it would be very bad.

So we agreed to having the catheter used. While we were waiting for the nurse to be free to come see us for this, we prayed again that God would help us get her urine without the catheter. Gradually we soothed her, and she drank a bottle of milk. We then waited 20 minutes and opened her nappy. My wife kept her entertained while I waited with the urine sample jar. After five minutes, she gave three quick bursts and I was able to catch two with the jar.

Such a small thing, but it was probably the happiest thing that happened during the whole night. I gave this jar to the doctor and after checking it, they said it looks like a clean catch, and so far no sign of UTI. We won't know for sure until we get the lab results on Monday from our local doctor, but it was a big relief.

Last night she went to sleep easily, but woke up again at 2.30am suddenly and cried very loudly until 3am. We suspect she was having nightmares, probably related to her experience of being checked and prodded by doctors (she really hated it, whenever a doctor tried to check her she'd scream and cry very, very loudly for a long time).

There are still so many things I need to learn, and at times I felt God didn't care, but He reminds me in the small things I experienced.

[SierraLea]

It sounds like fun! (joking)
Let me give you a little story that could help when you feel like taking care of that little one is not all it's cracked up to be.
My mom had six of us, one of whom is now six. When she was littler, this sister would not get to sleep very easily. My mom had to rock her for at least 30 minutes. One night, it was particularly bad, meaning that every time my mother stopped rocking, my sister would wake up. Finally, she just asked God to help my sister get her to sleep, and she gat a very clear answer. "I'm using every rock." My mom hasn't complained since, although it has been a while since my sister needed rocking.

[ClaecElric4God]

Praise the Lord! It's amazing to see all those answered prayers, even the little ones. Still praying for a full recovery.

[Sheenar]

I'm glad to hear she is feeling better!

[AdriTan]

I'm glad she's doing better!