Emergency!

Lauren watched from the couch as Julia celebrated her birthday.
Less than an hour later, she was being rushed to the hospital.

A fever that kept Lauren out of school Tuesday morning was more serious than we first thought. Wednesday, the doctor told her that she had contracted a strain of E-coli virus. The medicine she had been taking to keep her fever in check would not cure the virus.

So when Mom returned from the pharmacy with the medicine Wednesday night, Lauren did not hesitate to take it. But not 10 minutes later, she was throwing up, her right eye was nearly swollen shut, she had blemishes and bumps all over her body and she was complaining of having trouble breathing.

Thankfully, Uncle Neil was still on hand from the birthday party and Aunt Bridget hurried over to help, too. Bridget and Mom (with Veronica in tow) rushed Lauren to the Children's Hospital emergency room, where they controlled the swelling on her eye and found a medicine to fight the E-coli that would not lead to another allergic reaction.

Lauren returned home early Thursday morning and appears to be doing much better.