Connect the Dots

Thursday morning, when I went to get my little nugget out of the crib, I noticed H was a bit warm. I didn't think too much about it since he had been teething for the past week or so. (Mommy 101 note: a slight temper, runny nose & diarrhea are all common symptoms of teething.)

When I came home for lunch, my mom told me he'd been really hot all morning and never really got his energy back after getting up from his nap so I took his temperature & it came out to just under 101 degrees. I called the triage line at my pediatrician's office & was told that since he's still eating like a bottomless pit & sleeping like a champ that we should just keep an eye on his fever then bring him in the next morning to get checked out.

Later that evening, he felt hotter than ever so I took his temp again. To my horror, his fever had shot up to 103.5. According to WebMD, temperatures greater than 104 could result in a siezure so I frantically ordered Matt to call Dr. Sudha. They wanted us to bring him in ASAP so we packed up our litle hot tamale & headed to the doc's. After a few swabbings that H did not hesitate to express his dislike for, the diagnosis was the flu. He had only gotten 1 of his 2 flu shots (Mommy 101 note #2: a baby's 1st flu shot is given in 2 doses.) but even if he had gotten both, it wouldn't have guaranteed a flu-free season since there are a gazillion different strands.

H had the honor of being the 1st case of the flu this season at Dr. Sudha's office. Just as my mind started racing with thoughts of how I'm the worst mom ever for waiting so long to get my flu shot, how my baby probably has the swine flu, how badly I wanted to be able to fight the nasty flu for my baby, Dr. Sudha reassures me that he is one tough nugget and that he's doing incredibly well despite the circumstance. God bless that woman.

His fever broke last night and hasn't returned. He's back to his energetic, happy-baby self and spent all day playing while mommy & daddy unpacked the never-ending ocean of boxes. The one setback has been what appears to be a fever rash on his belly but the red spots don't seem to be bothering him any. Since I now have the triage line on speed dial & I'm on a first-name basis with almost every nurse, I called for good measure to make sure H didn't have a rare strand of Brazillian chicken pox. Why the heck would a fever rash appear when he no longer has a fever? Stupid rash. Be more punctual next time to save a mommy-freak-out.