Dear Paisley,

Happy Birthday! I apologize for not celebrating your birthday on the actual day, but you see, we didn't have any power. The day before we had a Nor' easter blow through. It was rainy. And windy. And pretty miserable. It was probably a good thing that we didn't plan to have you're party that day. Also, Preston wasn't feeling very well. He had a high fever and was up all night. We never did check his temperature until a few days later, and at that point it was 102.2 degrees. His fever finally broke at 2am on Sunday morning. I stayed home from church on Sunday with you and Preston. You felt a little warm, and I knew what was soon going to happen. We planned your party for around 5:30. We invited family over for dinner {hamburger sliders} and cake. It was almost 4:30 when I realized your temperature was high, and you were beginning to get lethargic. Dad looked up on the internet and realized that the symptoms Parker and Preston had/still have pointed to the swine flu. It was so hard to see you getting sick, and I didn't want you to go through what Preston went through the past couple of days with his extremely high fever. So, Mimi came with me and we took you to the Urgent Care to see if you had Swine Flu. We were there for 2 hours. You did so well, and all the nurses fell in love with you. They loved your little birthday outfit. I held you and we waited and waited and waited for the doctor to see you, and then for them to preform a flu test {because they forgot.} The test came back negative, and the doctor was giving us instructions on how to treat the virus that you had. We were about ready to leave, when one of the nurses came in to give you her sympathy for having the flu. The doctor informed her that she must have the wrong patient, because your test results came back negative for the flu.But no. She was right. Apparently, they had put the results in prematurely, and you did, in fact, have the swine flu. Poor little girl. With a prescription for Tamiflu and instructions on alternating Motrin and Tylenol, we headed home to finish your birthday party. Everybody had eaten, so I grabbed a cold hamburger and baked beans and inhaled them down so we could open your presents. The boys were so excited to open them, and you were such a sweetheart for letting them help! You got books from Mimi and Uncle Matt; a dress, sweater, jeans, shirt, and pj's from Aunt Ester; a dress, winter coat, and shoes from Mom and Dad; a doll stroller from Mamaw and Papaw; and a pig and figurine from Grandma Dot. Your brothers were so excited to help you "learn" how to walk with the stroller, that Mimi was so kind to assemble. We then sang happy birthday to you, and helped you blow out the candle. You ate some cake, and then laid your head down and was ready to go to bed.
My sweet Paisley, I love you so much. I really hate seeing you so miserable. I pray that this illness will leave your body. You are such a beautiful baby girl. I am so blessed to have you in our family. It is hard to believe that a year ago I was bringing you home from the hospital. You have brought so much happiness into our family with your sweet spirit. I just love you so much!


Love,
Mom



My sick little birthday girl. You looked like you were absolutely miserable.