Wow, talk about a roller coaster!

When I shared my big news with you earlier today, I had no idea that we weren’t done with “The Trials of December 2008″ yet, or I probably would have held off, if for no other reason than just to be sure you didn’t think I was nuts for taking on more in the midst of all of this!

But, here I am, about 12 hours later, sitting on a squeaky green vinyl couch in our community hospital while Sweet Doodle sleeps soundly in a cage – er, crib – next to me.

She was acting a little funny this morning and I thought maybe she was getting a cold, but she woke up from nap with a high fever. Because of her ITP diagnosis, I didn’t want to take any chances so I called our pediatrician’s office. Thankfully they had evening office hours tonight, so I was able to take her in to her doctors rather than braving urgent care or the emergency room.

As a precaution – both because of her diagnosis and because her fever was above 104 – they sent us to the hospital for some testing and observation. While this is not my ideal situation (what in the past month has been, though?), we do live fairly far from the hospital and our ER is a mad house, so I’m happy enough with the decision and the additional testing it provides as well.

So here I sit, afraid to move lest I wake her up, with Christmas music playing from my laptop to help drown out the hospital sounds in the hallway.

But you know what? I am more content now than I was 24 or even 48 hours ago. I’ve been struggling, to be honest, because both Sweet Doodle and Pumpkin Doodle have had another round of throwing up that’s left me discouraged and drained.

But here, with a giggly Baby Girl who can find her joy even after a chest x-ray, blood tests, nasal aspiration and tons of other poking and prodding – and who looks oh-so-cute in her tiny hospital gown – it’s easy to find mine too.