We found out Violet has pneumonia

Its been a whirlwind of a day. Yesterday morning, Violet woke up cranky and very thirsty. She wanted water. I gave her a big glass and she downed the whole thing. I took her temp and it was 102.9. I called the nurse to see if I should do anything. She said I could give her motrin every 6 hours to try bring down the fever. Throughout the day, she was OK, a little tired and whiney, but she ate half a bowl of oatmeal and wanted to watch Elmo, so I figured she was going to be better. Not so much. This morning after a broken night's sleep from coughing, she woke up thirsty and cranky again. Dave gave her water and she drank a lot. She seemed really tired, so we brought her into bed with us and she fell asleep immediately. Dave noticed she felt really hot. I decided to take Calvin with me to BBC because I wanted to see the baptism that was today. Dave agreed to stay home with Violet. Well...I got ready, got Calvin ready, and went. Only an hour had passed when I got a text message that said "Violet's temp is 105.5. What should I do?" I was sitting next to Selena and both of our eyes got huge when we read that. I texted back that he should call the nurse and get ready to go to the ER. Dave packed up some things and drove her to the hospital. I packed up Calvin and drove to the hospital to meet them. We got there at almost the same time. We checked Violet into the ER and they nurse took her temperature. It read 103.5. They knew something was wrong because she was still very lethargic, coughing, sleepy, and hot. They gave her a stronger dose of ibuprofen to help knock down the fever. We took off most of her clothes so she could cool down and they gave her some grape juice to drink. The doctor ordered some tests...so the next step was to take a blood sample. I was dreading all this - but knew it had to happen. I held down her legs while the nurses held her arms and got the blood sample and at the same time, started an IV. She screamed and cried the whole time and kept yelling "mama! mama!" It was so hard to see her like that. After they were done, I just held her and rocked. She said "all done poke! No more pokes!" and kept repeating that for awhile afterwards and all throughout the day. She seemed to be proud of herself for getting through it, but she definitely didn't forget she got poked. The doctor wanted to catheterize her to get a urine sample. I spoke up and said "well, she's potty trained, so why don't we just get her to pee in a cup?" The nurses and doctors didn't really want to wait or deal with that....but I insisted. I knew (and had first hand experience!) with catheters and they're NO fun. And scarey. The fluids they inserted in her IV started taking effect...soon she was saying "pee! pee!" so we THANKFULLY got a good sized urine sample in the bucket (they call it a hat) under the toilet seat. She was intrigued that her pee was in the bucket. She said "Vi peed in the bucket!" proudly. The nurse who collected the pee sample poured it into one of those sterile cups and took it away. She must have been carefully watching, because she said "Where Vi's pee go?" We had to smile. How cute. They did a RSV test also. They put some liquid in her nostrils and sucked it back up. They also took her for an X-Ray. After all those tests, we got to rest for a moment. It seemed like forever that we sat in the corner section on a little bed in the ER. We were waiting for test results. I went out into the waiting area to call some people...Rachel, Jay, my parents, Hannah Petersen from MOPS, etc. When I walked back to see Dave and Violet again (while holding a fussy Calvin), the doctor met me in the hallway and said "She's got pneumonia. the X-Ray showed it clearly in the upper part of her right lung. We need to keep her here for a couple days, run some antibiotics and get this little girl turned around." I immediately was concerned (obviously!) because the word pneumonia is a scarey one. But I was sortof grateful that the doctor had come up with a diagnosis quickly and already had an action plan. He told me that her white blood cell count was up to 23,000. The normal range is between 4,000 and 11,000. So we waited again. A nurse named Traci came down to gather up our stuff and Violet to take us up to her hospital room in the pediatric wing. Just so happened to be right down the hall from the birthing area where we had both babies. She enjoyed pushing the buttons in the elevator. Violet was so tired after that big ER ordeal. We were there a couple hours I think...taking turns comforting Violet and dealing with a tempermental Calvin. Talk about wearying. Dave and I were also starving. It was close to 3 pm and both of us were going on a measly breakfast. Dave ordered some chinese food for delivery. The doctor took another look at Violet (listened to her heart, lungs, took temp, felt tummy, checked ears, etc)...which she was of course, NOT a fan of. She didn't fight back. She just cried and whimpered and wanted either Dave and I to hold her hand at all times. She was so sweet. As the nurse explained everything (and asked us about 100 questions for procedure-purposes), Violet got comfy on the bed with her special yellow pillow and two blankets (the purple and pink ones) and fell asleep. The toe monitor that measured the oxygen in her blood and her heart rate showed 98% oxygen, sometimes 100% oxygen in the blood, which was a very good thing. She quickly fell into a deep exhausted sleep for about 2 hours while we ate our food. We then remembered that our dog was still in the cage at home. Ugh....that dog. We love her...but during these times, she's so annoying because we have to deal with her. I decided to take Calvin with me back home so I could let the dog out, take her to the vet for a couple days, and pack up some of Dave's things: his computer, notebooks, work-related items, and a change of clothes and overnight toiletries. As I'm writing this I'm trying to remember everything I did. I did the car-seat shuffle with moving Calvin's car seat base to the truck so I could take him with me. It was such a blessing that our neighbor Becky was home. I was able to leave Calvin with her for an hour while I packed up some things and drove the dog to the vet at 7 pm during their drop-off/pick-up time. Thankfully Calvin just fell asleep in her arms the whole time. I picked him back up (because the dog and Calvin wouldn't have fit in the truck at the same time) and drove back out towards the hospital, trying to think of a place to shop for books. The only way that Violet let me leave was because I told her I was going to get her some books to read. She was so bored and tired of that hospital room. While I was away, Dave stayed with her in the hospital and the took frequent walks up and down the hallway. I ended up going to the Dollar store and grabbed something close to 15 books, a toothbrush and toothpaste for V (I forgot to pack it from home) and some candy for Dave. I also forgot the camera...so hopefully I will remember it when I go back in the morning. She was excited to see me and to read some books. We spent the next couple hours taking random walks, reading lots of books, and laying in bed comforting her. Also, while I was gone, Dave ordered her some pancakes, oatmeal, and yogurt. She only ate a few bites of the pancakes and was all done. She said "the nurse pushed the button!" referring to the machine that dispenses her antibiotics through the IV. We told her she had an IV in her arm...emphasizing the V because she has a friend named Ivy and I wanted it to sound a little different than her "best" friend. She kept pointing to the tubing all taped to her arm and saying "IV! IV!" I told her when we go home we can take the IV out. Naturally, she repeated everything, so she came up with her own rendition (not sure I could repeat it with words) of "when we go home we can take out the IV". :) So...we took one last walk up and down the hall, peed on the potty, and tucked her into bed with her pillow and blankets. She asked us to pray with her and then I left with Calvin. On the way home, I was holding back the tears. I was almost home, then noticed flashing lights behind me. Oh no....I thought to myself. I must have been speeding. Good thing Calvin was sleeping in the car seat. The cop was a lady who was really, really nice. I got out my license, insurance, and registration and told her I was flustered because I just left the hospital where my daughter was who has pneumonia. I started crying and the cop was just like "I'm sorry hon, I'll be right back." It was a lady cop. She was quick....and thankfully, just gave me a warning. *whew* I drove home in tears. Calvin transferred well to his bed. Right now he's sleeping peacefully and I forced myself to sit down and type all this out so I wouldn't forget it in the morning. I always think I'll remember, but I don't...so here it is. In the morning, I plan on going out there to see her when Calvin wakes up, I get a shower and eat a little something. I'm just SO glad Dave is with her and can help comfort her. I know she has to get her vitals checked at midnight, 4 am, 8 am, and every 4 hours. They'll also do some type of physiotherapy to try knock the junk out of her lungs at midnight too. I don't think she's going to like that one bit. I just hope and pray that she goes right back to sleep and that the antibiotics will knock the infection right out of her lungs as soon as possible. I want her to come home! I am going to get some rest now. G'night.