Fever Fears

Adrianna’s fever has just been so scary. There have been two nights where Greg and I were so fearful for her that we got dressed and ready to run to the emergency room, just in case. Such a hard decision! Do we go, do we wait it out, do we give her more tylenol or motrin?

We finally decided to bring her to the doctor yesterday. It was a new doctor’s office for us. Our old doctor’s office is no longer “in-network” for our insurance provider, so we decided to try a new place. And it would figure that Adrianna’s fever disappeared (due to the Motrin finally kicking in) for her appointment. Just like when you bring a car into the mechanics shop and then the car works just fine. I did like that the new doctor’s office specialized in children’s medicine (our old doctor’s office is a Family Practice) and the doctor was great with Adrianna, but I was kind of put off towards the end because I was basically told not to worry and some mention was made towards me that I shouldn’t get “fever phobia” and that she was just experiencing allergies from the recent changes in the weather. ARGH. I was pretty frustrated. No help there.

Last night was one of the scariest nights for me as a parent. Adrianna’s fever spiked up to 105 (for the second night in a row). Trying to cool her down, we gave her a sippy cup of water and put her to bed with light pajamas. At about 4:00 a.m., Greg heard a noise in Adrianna’s room and went to check on her. Turns out her sippy cup had leaked all over her crib and so she was wet, shivering, and huddled in a corner, clutching her bear as tightly as she could.

Greg immediately picked her up and woke me up. I have never seen Adrianna so sick. Her fever was down to 99, but she was one sick little girl. Her eyes were haunting and red rimmed and she wasn’t very responsive to us. We couldn’t get her to chatter or even smile at us. We put on a warm blanket sleeper and brought her into bed with us, trying to warm her up. We also decided to get ready to run to the emergency room. Thankfully she started perking up a little. Then she snuggled closer to her Daddy and laid her head on his chest. She loves cuddling with her Daddy.

After a little more time had passed, she was back to her chatty self and remembered that being up in the middle of the night is fun! That is when we knew we were in the clear, so we put her back into bed. By this time, it was almost 5:00 a.m. and time for me to get ready for work.

Adrianna’s fever and listlessness seems to come and go. She seemed better this morning, so she went to childcare like normal. But Janette called after only a couple hours saying her fever was back and that Adrianna just wanted to be held all day. So I came back home from work. We decided that we wanted to take her to another doctor for a second opinion. Her fever was back to hovering between 101 and 102. We decided to go back to our old, trustworthy Family Practice, in spite of the fact that they were no longer in-network. I am so glad we did.

They were already doublebooked for many appointments when I called. But I think the lady could hear the tears in my voice when I desperately asked her to squeeze us in. She did, so we waited anxiously for 3:00 to roll around.

When I got home from work around noon, Adrianna was perky and even dancing around the music. But it didn’t last long. 10 minutes later and she had pulled off some pillows and a blanket from the couch onto the floor, laid down, and promptly fell asleep. When she woke up about half an hour later, I gathered her onto my lap and there she remained for a good solid two hours. A toddler in one place for two hours. Definitely something wrong with this child.

She was in the same ragdoll form at the doctor’s office. I was glad the doctor would be able to see what we were seeing and believe us and give us some real answers. A mom (and dad) know when something is really wrong with their child.

Our doctor today was great. She gave us answers and it turns out that Adrianna has an ear infection. A dose of Amoxycillin and Motrin later, and Adrianna’s fever is GONE. It has been gone for a couple hours. Adrianna ate a good dinner tonight and seems to be feeling so much better.

A funny story about our ride to the doctor’s office today. As we were driving, we kept hearing a “Boof! Boof! Boof!” coming from the backseat. That is Adrianna’s barking dog sound. She did it over and over and over again.

One final thought: I do not know how single parents do it. I would go crazy without Greg’s love and support on a daily basis, but even more so at times like this.