2 doctors in 2 days (warning, it is graphic!)

18 month check up:
We took Charlotte to her 18 month check up on Thursday where we confirmed she is a growing healthy girl. She was so good in the waiting room, let the doctor listen to her heart (and said "boom boom, boom boom when the stethoscope was on her heart), weighed in at 24 pounds 12 ounces, and with no vaccines needed we were on our way. She has met all of her milestones: says at least 10 words, can point to parts of her body, climbs on things, points to things, can follow a simple direction, and pretend plays. We left the doctor's office thinking that was our best trip ever and how lucky we are to have a smart and healthy little girl.

Day Two of the doctor:
Charlotte went off to Mrs. D's house on Friday like it was a normal day. I had a Gap coupon that was burning a hole in my pocket mixed with some serious spring fever so Bryce picked up Charlotte and was going to meet me at the store. I got a call when they got home to let the dogs out that Charlotte had just thrown up in the driveway. "Oh no", was all I really thought. Bryce said he thought she was too hot so he was going to change her clothes and let her cool down a bit with something to drink and then they would be on their way. I got another call 10 minutes later that she had thrown up again so I immediately raced home, calling Mrs. D and my Mom to try and trouble shoot while I was on my way. Mrs. D said she had a perfect day. She slept well, ate well, everything as usual. Even my Mom was thinking it was a fluke so I was totally unprepared for what I walked in to. As soon as I walked in the door Bryce was holding Charlotte and she reached out for me and we went to sit on the couch.....where she promptly threw up all over my lap. Now we've got the towels out on the floor for her to sit on, I go to change, and we get a towel to catch it if she throws up again. I called our doctor's after hours line and the operator said she would have someone call me right back. By the time the phone rang again we were on throw up number six in about two hours. The nurse on the line told me if she gets to throwing up 8 times in 8 hours that we needed to head to the urgent care. If her throw up turned dark yellow or green we needed to head to the emergency room. Seeing as we only had two throw ups to go before we had to go to a doctor I started packing the car up full of towels and changes of clothes.

In less than 30 minutes she had thrown up two more times so we were out the door. We went to Childrens Healthcare in Duluth where we waited an hour to be seen. I spent the hour over analyzing every child waiting ahead of us and getting more and more desperate because I felt like Charlotte was sicker than all the other kids who were ahead of us. The wait was worth it though because the doctor and nursing staff were wonderful. They gave Charlotte an anti-nausea tablet and drew her blood. She finally stopped throwing up so they allowed her some apple juice which she sucked down in one gulp and said "more please". Her lab results showed she was dehydrated (which I knew because she had not wet her diaper since 3:00 that afternoon) so we got strict instructions on how to care for her and were allowed to go home. Three juice boxes and a prescription later we were on our way. My Mom and Dad met us at Childrens and we split up so that Bryce and my Dad could go get the prescription and Mom could help me at home. I can't even explain how reassuring it was to have my Mom with a nurses background giving me some advice and helping take care of Charlotte. The night was not quite over yet though, when I went to pull her out of her carseat I got three juice boxes full of throw up down the front of me. Yuck.
So the results are in: she had a 24 hour virus. The doctor said she saw 8 other children with symptoms just like Charlotte that same night. Charlotte was still a little queasy today and didn't want to eat much but she would play hard and started to act like her normal self again. The doctor reassured me that the virus would be gone within 24 hours and that Charlotte would not be contagious any more but we are staying quarantined for the weekend just to be safe. Bryce's parents came up to check on her and she really started to come back out of her shell then. It was a really rough night so we are all ready to have our happy girl back!