All eyes on Elsie!

Elsie woke up in the middle of the night last night complaining that her back hurt. She ended up spending the rest of the night in our bed. This morning when she woke up, she was still complaining that her back hurt and wouldn't eat or drink anything. She just laid on the couch, napping, waking, napping, waking, but just laying there. Well, after one of her mini-naps, she sat up, cried out, "My back hurts!" then proceeded to puke. I carried her into the tub and ran her some bath water. She just sat in the bath for about an hour and a half, just sitting there, not playing, but she didn't want to get out either. When she was done, she started crying that she wanted out, so I wrapped her in a towel and carried her back out to the living room where I layed her on the floor and put her diaper on. Then, I went downstairs to get her some clothes and she was asleep before I made it back to her.
While she was sleeping, I called the doctor and consulted the mommies at Babycenter who told me it could be a kidney infection. By this time, Claira was napping so, we set Elsie an appointment to be seen this afternoon, and I got busy getting us ready for our outing.
I called Diane to put Elsie on our church's prayer chain. The stroller had been sitting in the garage so I put it in the car along with the diaper bag. By the time I'd changed my clothes, Elsie woke up hungry, thirsty, and talkative. She ate, drank, and watched cartoons. It would've been a normal morning if this same activity had taken at 8 a.m. this morning instead of noon! Anyway, her drastic change in behavior is evidence that God moves swiftly when we call out to Him.
At about 1:50, we headed out the door for our 2:20 appointment. Elsie got weighed (still 42 pounds!) and the nurse took us to the exam room. Elsie was happy to announce her condition to all within 100 feet as we walked down the hall. "I'm sick. I don't feel good. I puked all over the couch. My back hurts." And so on. It's lovely how they like to share such information at their highest volume, no?

Well, we got to answer a bunch of questions for the nurse and wait for the doctor and answer the same questions for her. I have no idea why the nurse needs to ask a bunch of questions and type them into the computer if the doctor is going to ask the same questions and type the answers as well. Seems silly to me, but I suppose I didn't spend a bunch of money on medical school so what do I know? Basically, her exam was fine, but the doctor was concerned that she might have a bladder or kidney infection and we'd need to get a urine sample to test for that. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! At this point, they knew she wasn't potty trained from the questions answered earlier. Still, they asked if I thought she'd pee in a hat to which I answered honestly, "You can try, she'll gladly sit there, but she hasn't yet actually gone on the potty even one time so I doubt it'll be successful." So, they brought in this little bag to put on her inside her diaper. It was actually pretty clever, I thought. It's open at the top with a little upside down U-shaped foam sticker that sticks to her skin and the bottom opening of the bag remains open for collection. I gave Elsie a couple of cups of cold water and we had a sample within 15 minutes. The sample showed trace amounts of blood and bacteria (signs of infection) and keytones (sign of dehydration--not a surprise since she'd puked). The doctor explained that they'd have to have a culture done to test for the infections and the results could take up to 3 days. So, we should hear back from them by Friday. I'm praying that it's nothing and just a fluke. Elsie is her normal, energetic self. She was sad to leave the doctor's office though. She was definitely thrilled to be the center of attention for an afternoon, getting cups of water, books to look at, crayons to color with, and stickers. I think she's due for some one-on-one Hulabaloo time or something.