Thankfully When God Closes a Door...

...He leaves a few more open. 

It has been a trying two days for us here at the Riggs house.  Cate came down with a 101 fever while we were at work on Wednesday.  We picked her up and brought her home.  Other than the fever and some congestion, she ate/played/slept/etc. like normal.  About a half hour after dinner, while playing on the floor, Cate rolled over onto her back and began seizing.  It was the scariest moment (for us) of her life.  We called 911, who suggested we take Cate to Children's to get looked at.  We had her taken via lifesquad as that would guarantee her being seen in triage upon arrival and not having to wait in the waiting room. We were there for about 4 hours before being discharged. 

Cate had what was called a febrile seizure...when your body temperature rises too quickly in too short of a time.  She was diagnosed with simply a virus.  The hospital said they would not test her for H1N1 since she was not at risk for complications.  Could she have H1N1?  Yes.  Could she have one of the other several viruses running around instead? Also, yes.  Many people were praying for Cate and for us as we went through that, and for that we are grateful.

Yesterday (Thursday) she continued to have the fever and some congestion, but otherwise acted, played, and ate like normal.  Unfortunately, in a time when everyone is worried about illness, we had to make a tough decision.  Cate's childcare provider instituted a new 10 day quarantine on all kids that she cares for if they have a fever or flu-like symptoms...with expectation of being paid for those 10 days.  We jumped the gun, and made the mistake of emailing our provider back, calling her new policy unreasonable, when we probably should have called her to talk about it. Feelings were hurt on both sides, but we are praying for healing. We only felt it unreasonable because both of our workplaces (a school and a health non-profit) follow the guidelines of being fever-free without medication for at least 24 hours before returning.  This may mean being out for 10 days if the fever persists for that long, or it may mean only being out for a few days. 

It was incredibly upsetting to have to make this decision, and we questioned whether or not we were horrible parents for wanting to be able to bring our daughter back once she had been fever free without medicine for at least 24 hours (our plan was and still is to wait 48 before sending her anywhere).  But we let go of the guilt (we are NOT bad parents), parted ways with our sitter, and God is already providing. 

We already have a few promising leads of providers who want to take Cate as soon as she is healthy again.  This is a huge blessing as we thought we were going to be stuck without a sitter once Cate recovered. One potential new provider we know personally from the church we used to attend and the others have come at the recommendation of friends.  Thankfully the ones we've talked to last evening and today follow a 24-48 hour rule, which is much more reasonable for us. 

Please continue to pray for us as we decide with whom to place Cate for the remainder of the school year (and hopefully until she starts going to school herself).  And please continue to pray for Cate's healing and for our (Eric's and Melody's) health.  We'd also like you to join us in prayer for our former childcare provider and that she, her family, and her other clients would remain healthy.

Blessings,
Eric and Melody
P.S. Here's another pumpkin patch picture for you to enjoy.  We love her goofy face and it reminds Melody of the goofy grin her brother used to make when people sang "Happy Birthday" to him as a kid. 

P.P.S...didn't get a chance to look at the brand of Cate's boots from the last post before she went to bed...will check tomorrow.  They were hand-me-downs though, so they may be one or two seasons ago.