What I learned on spring break vacation

I'm actually still in the midst of spring break vacation — so don't expect any blogging for the next 24 hours — but I did learn some lessons and, since I have a moment at a computer, I thought I'd share them:

1.  When your child has a 104.5 degree fever, ignore well-meaning advice about children's capacity to sustain high fevers, and take him to the hospital immediately.

2.  The sentence "a good night's sleep in the hospital" is an oxymoron.  The two concepts — "good night's sleep" and "hospital" — do not exist in the same universe.  My sleep was splintered from minute to minute by my Little Bookworm's endless coughing, by the nurses who came into the room constantly to check on things (bless them), and by the fact that the other mother sleeping in the room with her child was a snorer.  All night long I heard "Czzzz kkkkk pffzzzzl sshhhhnnnn.  Czzzz kkkkk pffzzzzl sshhhhnnnn."  Occasionally, she'd stop snoring, but only to take some time to grind her teeth.  I know that, last night, there was only one person who got a good night's sleep — that lady's husband, knowing a night of quiet for the first time in years!

3.  Nurses are very nice people.  They don't rush when you want them to, but they rush when they need to, and that's when it matters.  In this particular hospital, far from my home, the nurses did everything they could to see not only to Little Bookworm's comfort but to mine as well, for which I am very grateful.

4.  Modern medicine is a wonderful thing.  Little Bookworm has had antibiotics flowing into him constantly for the last 40 hours and is soooo much better than he was before.  In a pre-antibiotic era, there was no reason why he couldn't just have died.  As it is, we'll be heading home tomorrow, and he and I can't wait.

5.  Family matters.  To those in my family who stepped in to help out (you know who you are) thank you, thank you, thank you!

6. And my last lesson is, when you're tired and stressed, pull out of an unfamiliar driveway very, very carefully.  Those posts have a nasty habit of attacking your car otherwise (although my bumper looks very charming dressed in white paint).