I have never been so scared...

A few nights ago, I felt helpless and scared and I cried. Lauren was sick, and I don't mean run of the mill sick, I mean fever sick. 103.8 in one ear, 106.1 in the other. Sick-sick. And I didn't know what to do. This was one hour after medicine and it was bedtime where she was not going until she felt cooler to me. She acted fine but felt like fire, and I knew we should do something, and fast.
Calls to friends with older children went unanswered, calls to parents (ours) scared me more, though they certainly didn't mean to, the internet is full of information that you are told to believe with a grain of salt, so I went to a site I trust and I called our pediatrician. The wonderful night nurse who called back recommended a "tepid" bath which we were already doing and to monitor her. She also told me that I had the "mother's eye" and I would know if she took a turn for the worst. I watched her like a hawk. She didn't get worse, thank God, but I still worried. At least her fever didn't go up anymore.
I know that there will be several times over the next lifetime that I will feel bewildered, scared, and more than a little bit unsure, but when someone so small, with so little real ability to tell me how she feels, is so sick, I feel more helpless than I can ever remember feeling.
I think we are now on the upswing, but thinking about it makes me tired all over again.
We were all sick, but Lauren was the sickest in my opinion. Gotta love the flu...