That... That was a much uglier weekend than I'd bargained for. Murphy listens far too closely.

I was feeling a little whiney that the schedule wasn't going to allow me much time to visit with Karen, who was coming down from New York to help K.T. and Kevin move, because I was going to spend the moving day sequestered at my parents' house, babysitting.

But there was Sunday, of course, so it wasn't too bad.

And then Saturday morning, Penny, who was still only just starting to recover from the stomach uck, threw up.

Twice.

It wasn't the stomach uck returned, either - she was congested as well. After some scurrying around and phone calls, we decided to leave Penny with my mom for the day, and I went over to help with the move. The move did not go precisely smoothly, but those woes belong to K.T., not me. At least I got to visit with Karen a bit.

Penny was even sicker Sunday, so we stayed home. After she threw up her Pedialyte (which is supposed to be super-gentle to the stomach), we paged the pediatrician, who advised us to feed her in even tinier portions - a single ounce, and then wait 10 minutes before the next bit.

Ha. Haha. Hahaha. Penny, even sick, wants a lot more than that at a time. When the bottle ran dry after only one ounce, she would start crying. And then screaming. Ten minutes would pass, and we'd give her another ouce, and she'd start crying again after it was gone.

By evening, we'd worked her up to 2 ounces at a feeding, which was still making her mad. It was... a very bad day.

The night was worse. She woke up at 2 and didn't go back to sleep until 3:30 - and then woke up again Monday morning at 5:30.

Aside from that, Monday started out okay. I called in sick to stay home with her. I decided I'd rather deal with her throwing up than screaming with hunger, and gave her four ounces of pedialyte. She kept it down, caloo calay!

We stayed in the kitchen/dining room for most of the day anyway, just to be on the safe side.

I took her to the doctor. (Penny hasn't gained any significant weight in the last month, which isn't surprising, as she's spent most of it sick.) The doctor expressed an opinion that Penny has a rotavirus infection, and took a sample to test - I should get the results back from that today. She also confirmed my suspicion that Penny has yet another round of ear infections (both ears again).

So we left the doctor with two prescriptions - one for a course of antibiotics (which will hopefully be easier on her stomach than the Augmentin had been) and one for a codeine-based syrup that should ease most of the symptoms of the rotavirus (or at least let her sleep through them). Matt and I are a little nervous about the idea of giving our 7-month-old narcotic medicine, so we're going to try to only give it to her at night, to help her sleep. At least, that's the plan.

She was fine for the rest of the day, too. I gave her formula mixed with pedialyte (formula has more calories and is a little more filling - I hoped it would ease her hunger) and she kept it down. The fever seemed to have cleared itself up. I even managed to put her down for a nap and then get an hour or so of sleep, myself.

And then, after making me think she was on the road to recovery, Murphy came to visit.

She threw up on Matt while I was out filling the prescriptions.

The squirt of a medicine dropper sometimes makes her gag, so when she got hungry again, we mixed the medicine into her bottle. She got about 2/3 of the way through it, then threw it all up.

This is a problem, since antibiotic runs have to be taken fully. We called the doctor. The answering service paged the doctor with the wrong phone number, so by the time we got in touch with him, Penny had gone to sleep. So we saved his advice for her to wake up.

She woke up at 12:45. I gave her the antibiotic, and then Matt gave her a bottle - which she promptly threw up. So we cleaned her up and changed her, and I gave her the antibiotic again. Leaving enough in the bottle for tonight's dose, and maybe tomorrow's, but certainly not enough to complete the run.

And then, to make sure she kept it down, we waited. While she screamed. At the half-hour mark, we decided it was safe to give her the codeine-based medicine. And then we waited. While she screamed.

The only fun part about it was after I'd taken her from Matt at one point, he did little song-and-dance number to entertain her. Specifically, he did "Puttin' On The Ritz" as performed in Young Frankenstein. His rendition of the Frankenstein monster singing almost made me fall over, laughing. Of course, I might've been just a little punchy by that point.

Finally, just shy of the hour mark, I gave her two ounces of pedialyte. When that was gone, she started screaming again - being hungrier than two ounces could satisfy - but it calmed her just enough to let the codeine kick in, and she fell asleep in short order.

So we got back to bed a little after 2.

This morning, we packed her up and I took her to my parents' house. I told them they could give her 4oz of pedialyte at a time, and risk having her throw most of it back up; or they could give it to her in 2oz increments and deal with her screaming about the small amounts. Their choice. And that if she took her next bottle without throwing up, they could try a little formula with the one after that.

Then I realized that I hadn't packed a bottle in her diaper bag. Mom said she'd run up to the store and get a bottle, and they'd just keep it at their house, so we don't have to worry about it.

Penny was in a good mood. Mom and Dad reassured me that they'd be fine and shooed me out of the house. I was only about 45 minutes late for work. I will worry all day, of course, and accomplish very little, but at least I'm here, instead of burning vacation time.

The doctor said this usually runs its course in 3-4 days. This will be Day 4. If she throws up today, she can't go to daycare tomorrow, either.

The doctor had said to call the office to ask about some free samples of the antibiotic, so we could complete the run without having to get another prescription filled. So I called this morning and explained to the receptionist, who transferred me to the nurses' phone, which sent me to the answering machine. They're notorious about not returning calls, so I don't know what I'm going to do. Keep calling, I guess.

I did take some pictures Sunday - even sick, she's awfully cute. But I didn't bring my camera to work with me today, so I haven't downloaded them yet. I'll try to remember tomorrow. If I'm not at home again.

(What, me? Pessimistic? Well, maybe just a little.)

Tonight's plan: We're having dinner with my parents when we go down to pick up Penny. Whatever food she takes around 6-ish, we'll wait for half an hour, to make sure it's staying down, and then give her the antibiotic dose. And then wait half an hour. (Probably driving home in there. Must remember to take drugs with us.) And then give her the codeine, and wait at least 15 minutes for it to worm its way into her system before giving her any more.

That's the plan. Murphy, avert thy eyes. We need no more of your "blessings."

--Liz