Sick Baby

Well, the inevitable happened. At almost 17 months of age, Molly Ruth got sick for the first time ever. I knew this day would eventually come and I'm thankful we managed to avoid it for such a long time. However, my tactics to keep MR in a bubble were defeated by the germ farm that is the church nursery. Of course, I don't have proof that church was the culprit, but I have a very strong hunch.

On Wednesday of last week I put MR to bed and noticed she felt a little warm, but nothing too concerning. She has been cutting some teeth so I chalked it up to that. She then woke up at 4:30am, crying, and very hot. Temp was 101.5. I gave her some Tylenol and rocked her for a while. Her fever came down and she proceeded to play and eat normally for the rest of the day.

However, she threw up her snack and all of her dinner. I was definitely starting to get worried. At this point, I still thought it may have been due to teething until her temp reached 103.6 that night. It was then that I knew it was more than teething so I called the after hours number for her pediatrician and got some advice/ coaching on what to do. An hour after taking a fever reducer, her temp was back down to 102 so I felt like it was safe to avoid the ER and take her in to the pediatrician first thing the next morning.

So, we did. Of course the diagnosis was "something viral" and we were instructed to keep drinking lots of fluids and alternating fever reducers. Over the weekend, she seemed to be on the mend and her temperature had disappeared. And then a cough developed. And sneezing. And a runny nose. And irritability and sleeplessness.

So, on Tuesday we trotted back to the pediatrician. This time, she had fluid in her right ear and an ear infection. I was relieved to have a diagnosis and start some antibiotics. Ever since then, she's been improving.

She's still not 100%, but she's getting there. She was a trooper and I am glad to have that scary first bout of sickness over and done! Plus, I feel like I've gotten some important mom skills under my belt.