Skylar had been feeling a little unwell earlier that week. She had a persistent headache, and I actually kept her home from school on Friday to make sure she wasn't sick, and that we should still plan on going on the camp-out. Well, she said she was fine, and really, she seemed OK. I was apprehensive about that, too. I just really had a feeling we should sit this one out, and go camping another time, though I couldn't really put my finger on a good reason. I felt guilty and figured that with this being Skylar's first Girl Scout camp-out, and the fact that we needed to spend some mother-daughter time together, we couldn't miss it.
So, we went...and at first, everything was OK. Skylar was having fun with the other girls. They did crafts and games, and even went fishing with their own makeshift poles.
Camp Hardee is really pretty. It's right on the Pamlico River, and as we sat on the pier and tried to catch something, we could look out and see all the sailboats and speedboats go by. We even saw boats crabbing.
After awhile with no bites, the girls got bored fishing and we let them wade up to their ankles in the river. They collected shells and splashed. It's quite amazing how high some of their ankles were...some girls ended up with wet and sandy bottoms. It was also pretty hot out. It was probably about 85. It was at this time that Skylar really started complaining. At first she complained about the heat. Which, yes, it was hot, but honestly, it's been hotter. She was just really cranky and uncharacteristically whiny. I started to get a little annoyed with her.
After we headed back to the lodge where we were staying (which is actually the kitchen and dining hall), she mainly wanted to sit inside in the AC rather than play outside. She participated in the activities when it was time, but I could tell she was not happy. She ate a decent lunch, an entire hot dog, but she was still very frowny.
The girls learned about worms and received an earthworm of their own to keep in an empty baby food jar. Unfortunately, it must have been too hot for the worms, or maybe they were handled too much, because most started dying fairly quickly. Skylar and Caitlin buried their worms and erected tombstones with the help of their friend, Kelly. As you can see from the picture, Skylar is not her usual camera-happy self, and it is not due to grief over the untimely passing of her earthworm, either.
By dinnertime, she was a mess. She barely ate, complained the whole time about her back hurting, and I was sick of hearing it, frankly. I mean, I was the one who was six months pregnant with my ankles and hands swelling, for heaven's sake! Unfortunately, I finally told her I didn't want to hear another word of complaint or see another frown on her face, and did she really think I was going to send her to week-long Girl Scout Camp when she couldn't survive one day?
Well, that I thought was that, until I found her lying on her air mattress, curled into a ball, crying. Her stomach was hurting her. Bad. And she seemed to have a little fever. It didn't help that the air conditioning unit in the lodge had frozen up and it was 87 degrees inside - actually hotter than it was out-of-doors. So, we took her temperature, and gave her Tylenol and Pepto Bismol. She got to the point where she just couldn't stand it any longer, so I decided to call George to come pick us up.
Darcy offered to drive us halfway back and meet him, so we were in the process of doing that when Skylar just got hysterical with the pain. She was doubled up, crying, and she said her arms and legs were numb. So Darcy and I decided to drive her to the hospital in Washington, 3 or 4 miles away. To make a long story short, it was such a stressful experience. Skylar was miserable, but the triage nurse was able to get her to stop hyperventilating, which made the numbness in her arms and legs go away, but she still had stomach pain and a headache. When George got to the ER (he had taken Bart and Drake to James & Vanessa's), we were able to get Skylar settled down enough to where she just really wanted to go to sleep. The waiting room was PACKED. We were there probably two hours when we talked to the nurses who told us it would be another several hours before Skylar would be able to get back into a room. We just couldn't leave the boys at the Nicolaysens' for that long, especially Drake who was freaking out with us gone. Skylar seemed to be much better now, so I talked to the triage nurse. She told us as long as Skylar's fever didn't worsen, or the stomach pain increase, we could take her home and let her pediatrician check her out in the morning (gladly, her pediatrician has Sunday emergency hours). While there, some lady was yelling at the nurses about how her husband had been waiting for 6 hours and hadn't yet been seen. All the swearing on her part, and the fact that someone had been waiting there that long, hardened our resolve and we went ahead and took her home.
Skylar slept most of the way back to New Bern. We picked the boys up around 10:30 or so and dumped them all in the bed. The next day, Sunday, George stayed at home with Skylar and Drake and I took Bart to church. Skylar felt much better, but I still took her to see the pediatrician on Monday morning. The doctor said it could've been the combination of a little virus and the heat which made her so sick, or just the heat itself. At any rate, she was OK, and I sent her back to school on Tuesday. However, I did find out some information on Bart, and discussed some things with the doctor in regard to his defiance and difficulty at home. But that's an entirely separate post...
So, that was our lovely adventure at Girl Scout Camp. Quite a first experience, isn't it? I'm not sure that Skylar is quite as enthusiastic to go to the week-long summer camp now. And I'm not certain I want her to go this year!
No comments:
Post a Comment