| Friday, May 19, 2006 |
| 104.6 FM, The Fever |
All Wednesday afternoon Libby ran a low-grade fever. I attributed this to teething, dosed her appropriately with ibuprofen, and went about business as usual.
(If I had been posting as promised, you would know that Libby got a pair of lower incisors for Mother's Day, but I haven't, so, ha, first you've heard.)
Around 9 that night, the low-grade fever inched just out of the low grade range, around 100.8 or so, too high to attribute to teething, so we called a member of Libby's Pediatric Dream Team, Dr. Emmaus.
(Dr. Emmaus was the reason we chose the practice we use. He was the first doctor that Libby saw in the hospital, and he fussed over her like a mother hen, and told everyone how perfect she was. I adore him. At our first office visit, he said never hesitate to call for ANY question, better to do so than to sit and worry, and by golly, he means it. No matter what time you call, be it 6 in the evening or 4 in the morning, he's the same cheerful, helpful guy.)
Dr. Emmaus said that it was most likely a virus, and that if it was, her fever would likely reach 102 during the night. Tylenol, cool liquids, and a morning office visit were suggested, and we were admonished to call back if we had any questions.
I banished Ben to the sofa, and put Libby in our bed so that I could keep an eye on her during the night, knowing that she would have to have another dose of Tylenol at 2.
I am a light sleeper, so I didn't set the alarm. Libby was restless, and I didn't think either of us would sleep deeply enough to miss her next dose.
At 3, I woke up and flipped on the light.
Libby looked like a lobster. She was bright red, and when I touched her she immediately began screaming her head off.
Her temp: 104.6
While Ben dialed the doc, I gave her as much Tylenol as I dared, and tried to keep her calm.
Dr. Emmaus advised us to give the Tylenol 45 minutes to work, if she got hotter, or couldn't calm down, head for the ER, but if we could bring it down at home we'd be better off because of the time constraints (drive to University City ER + wait = roughly 5 hours, OR Tylenol + cool washcloth bath + baby nakedness = slow but steady cooling). The main thing, he stressed, was calming her down, suggesting popsicles, or letting her drive the car(???), anything she wanted. Whatever it took was fine by him, period.
We waited, half expecting febrile seizures, but within an hour, her temperature had dropped a little over 2 degrees, and another half hour after that she was almost normal. Still feverish, of course, but at least not screaming her head off. Cuddled up with her daddy, she was content to watch Adult Swim, and eventually drift off to sleep.
(Yes, we let her watch tv in this instance, see above comments regarding "anything she wanted.")
(What's that? Your objection was to Adult Swim? Get over it, she's six months old, all she knows is bright colors and flashes. And besides, InuYasha rocks.)
Thursday morning we were at the pediatrician's office first thing for an appointment with Dr. Turtle (who is less chipper and cuddly than Dr. Emmaus, but is the best doc at the practice by far. I love him, Libby hates him.). Libby has not been eating well since she started teething, and has either lost weight recently, or hasn't gained at her usual rate. This is of little concern, since she's a tubby baby, and she'll most likely make it up as soon as she's feeling well again. This was the only substantial finding. No throat inflammation, no otitis, lung xrays clear, urinalysis negative, heart and lung sounds normal, bloodwork okay, nothin.
The diagnosis: Probably just a virus.
My response: Well duh.
So home again, home again, jiggety-jig, to watch and wait it out.
Libby's temperature stayed stable until dark, at which point it shot right back up to 104.6 again. |
posted by Tarah @ 12:40 PM  |
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