Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Fever Pitch (Week 33, Day 3)

Maddy woke up with a fever this morning. Of 103. This was the highest it's ever been, and she was burning up to the touch. I stayed home from work with her, and planned to take her to our doctors walk in appointments as soon as they opened. I got there right at 8:30 on the dot (the official opening time) to find an absolutely jam packed waiting room - every seat taken and extra chairs in the hallway, also taken. Part of me was anxious about the long wait before anyone would be able to see Maddy, and the other part was relieved that there must be something going around, which explains Maddy's horrendous cold. Once we finally got to see the doctor, they identified an ear infection and a cold and I hiked off, stroller in tow, to fill her prescription.
By the time I got back home, it was almost lunchtime and I had to begin fielding calls for work. While I could stay home with Maddy, my workday did not stop. So in between phone calls, I played, fed, changed diapers, nursed, changed more diapers, and generally entertained Miss Madeline. I had given Maddy her prescription for her war infection, but had not given her any Tylenol as I didn't like to give her too much medication. And in full disclosure, I could not figure out how to get the medicine out of the bottle. Damn you child proof bottles!
In the afternoon I had a very long conference call, and Maddy had begun to get irritable playing. I was able to soothe her to sleep on my chest, and she stayed there, asleep but clearly uncomfortable, snotty and sick, for 3 hours - not a usual nap for her. She woke up right around the end of my call, and she felt like a little furnace she was so hot, so I took her temperature. 104. Now the highest it's ever been, and scary high. Mom freaked out high. Ready to take action and head to the hospital high.
Before I completely panicked and rushed to the emergency room, I decided to call her doctor and get their opinion. I'm very grateful for the nurses and doctors at her practice - they are all very responsive, and very understanding of how scary it is to have a sick baby. They suggested that before I hike off to the ER, I give Maddy some Tylenol and see if her fever drops and she perks up with 30 minutes - if not off to the hospital we go. So now it was me against the childproof bottle, and I was going to tear it apart with my bare hands if I had to and get the medicine inside. Luckily, I was not foiled by it, and was able to get the medicine out of the bottle and into Maddy's mouth. And then we waited. My lethargic, fussy girl laid quietly on my chest, sniffling and suffering, and it broke my heart. I sat there, sleep deprived, hungry, and anxious, worried about what would happen if the fever didn't go down, if she didn't perk up. 30 minutes felt like two days. And then Maddy raised her head, looked me square in the eyes for a while, and started to squirm. She started to roll, and look for a toy to play with. She wanted to get on the floor and crawl. In summary, she started acting like herself again - the fever had gone down.

I knew eventually the day would come when the scary high fever would arrive, a day every new mom dreads but knows is unavoidable, and today it had. Together, we weathered the storm, and made it through relatively unscathed.

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