Chapter 4 – Waiting
Two days later Simon was willing to send Doralice home, but not Lily Beth. Yes, we'd gone ahead and named her, just like we were going to. Lily Elizabeth. It still didn't seem like there was anything to worry about, but Simon wasn't taking any chances. Which meant that Doralice and me were there for the long haul, too.
We traded off being there. I'd sit with Lily for four or five hours, then Doralice would come and take my place. Simon was still tight-mouthed about whatever was worrying him, but his mood seemed to be a little lighter.
The third night Simon sent both of us home. "You need some sleep, at the same time, in a bed," was his pronouncement. "I'll be here, and if anything develops I'll send for you."
It was a little past sunup when I woke up, with Doralice in my arms and Maudie in bed with us. And someone pounding at the front door. It was Dave Parker; Simon had sent him for us. "She spiked a fever," Dave told us. "Simon wants you to come back."
I woke Doralice, who in turn woke Lily Mae, and I carried Maudie to her bed while Doralice got dressed. In ten minutes we were at Simon's office. "What's happened?"
"She's developed a fever, and nothing I do affects it any. I wanted to talk to you about your aspirin allergy."
"What about it?" Doralice was by my side, with that death grip she had on my arm again.
"Did you always have it, or did it develop when you got older?"
"I didn't have it when I was a kid. So I must have developed it later. Why?"
"Because if something doesn't stop this fever, I want to try to give her a small dose of aspirin."
"Isn't that dangerous?" Doralice asked.
"It depends."
"On what?"
"On whether it works or not."
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We stayed there with her all day, the fever moving up slowly but surely. By two o'clock it was almost one hundred four, and I could tell that Simon was just about at the end of his rope. He came in to see us in the exam room and looked like he hadn't slept in days. Of course, he probably hadn't.
"Is it time?" I asked him.
"I think so. It's been going up all day, and I'm beyond concerned. I'd like to try just about one-quarter normal dose and see what happens. Do I have your permission?"
"Go ahead," I told him.
"Doralice?"
"Yes. Go ahead."
Back to our favorite occupation . . . a lot of waiting. Three o'clock came and went, then four, and sometime during the afternoon I fell asleep. Simon woke me at six. Doralice had gone home to fix dinner, and it seemed like a good idea to try another one-quarter dose. The fever had risen to just a bit over one-hundred four and stopped. Simon took this as a good sign and measured out another quarter dose, and we watched with bated breath. The minutes passed and we waited; no progress one way or the other. The aspirin seemed to be in a stand-off with the fever, with neither winning.
Doralice came back to the office and brought a plate full of food with her; I had no interest in it, so I passed it along to Simon. When he was done eating he checked again, and the fever had gone down about half a degree. It was almost ten o'clock before there was any further change.
Simon was getting ready to do another check when Maude came in with Maudie. Our oldest daughter went straight to the exam room to see how our youngest daughter was doing, and within five minutes there was loud yelp when Simon turned to Maudie with a big smile on his face and said, "One hundred three. It's working!"
In a matter of seconds I had armfuls of wife and daughter, and I'd be hard pressed to tell you who was laughing and who was crying. Even Simon joined in the group embrace. It took us a while to calm down, but by midnight her fever had dropped another degree.
Almost three days later, Simon let Lily Beth come home. Her fever was almost completely gone, and she did more than sleep. We held a big party to welcome the newest member of the family, and naturally assumed we were finished producing babies. And we were, for almost four years.