Now let's rewind a bit. Seven days before we left for our adventure, I had taken Hopey to The Department of Health to get her 18 month shots. Many times in the past, they've run out of certain vaccines, and you have to go back at a later date to get them. On this particular day, the only vaccine that they actually had in stock was the MMR. I was a little bit nervous about that one anyway, so I was perfectly fine getting that one all by itself. After the nurse had given Hopey her vaccination, she told me that we might notice a fever, rash, etc. in the next 7 to 10 days. For some reason the words 7 to 10 days didn't register with me.
Let's fast forward to seven days later. Ahhh yes, the day we're leaving for Wisconsin! Hopey woke up that morning with a slight fever, and refused to eat anything. This is very unHopey-like. Again, for some reason this just didn't register with me. Anyway, because Hopey absolutely despises her car seat, we always travel at night in hopes that she'll sleep. As the day progressed, Hopey became more and more irritable. By the time Brian got home from work, I had become quite concerned with how the trip was going to go.
You know what? Not until 3:00am, the 10th hour in the car with a screaming child, did I remember what the nurse had told me about the MMR. I guess I hadn't realized she meant that the first time the symptoms might show up would be 7 days later...
SO, by the time we got to Wisconsin, Hopey was running a fever of 103.4, had a crazy rash from head to toe, refused to eat, and could do nothing but scream. The poor thing was a mess, and nothing we gave her seemed to bring her any comfort. We talked to her doctor back at home, and he told us what was going on. He told us to use Tylenol and Motrin for the fever, keep her drinking fluids, and it would pass in a couple of days.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we're supposed to be getting ready for family pictures. Neither Hopey or her parents had slept in the last 48 hours, so we were a bit concerned about how these pictures might turn out. Needless to say, we've definitely taken better family pictures...It's actually kind of hard for me to look at the pictures from that day because Hopey's poor little face brings back all of the memories of how sick she was. Don't get me wrong, we were SO THRILLED to share my Gram's 80th birthday with her and to finally have Velie/Schell/Witzig family pictures taken!!! Everyone else looks GORGEOUS, but please excuse the exhausted Witzig family. AND, a super big THANK YOU to my cousins Dani and Tairyn for getting that doll out for Hopey, you girls saved the day!!! All of that said, look at Hopey in these pictures, and I think you'll understand why they make me sad.
