*Warning - blog contains details about the joys of having a sick baby. If you would rather not read about barf, I'd suggest you move along...for those who are curious or want to know what they are in for...read on!*
Mason wakes up happy today but he feels warm. Mason has been the healthiest baby I've ever seen. Aside from a wimpy cold and a skin condition he's never been ill. I brought out the thermometer (a necessity!) which is a digital read and easy to use. It even stores the last temperature in memory to compare. I've heard conflicting stories on where to put it but have been told by nurses that it's best to do an axillary test (arm pit) to get an accurate read. Mason won't stop squirming as I hold the little stick under his arm. 100.7 it reads. Wow that seems high. I take another reading and it's not as high. I'm not panicking yet, I google the temperature and it's a low grade fever.
Common guidelines are:
- If your baby is less than 3 months old and has a temperature of 100.4 degrees F (38 degrees C) or higher, call the doctor immediately. A baby this young needs to be checked for serious infection or disease
- For a baby between 3 and 6 months old, call if his temperature reaches 101 degrees F (38.3 degrees C) or higher
- If your baby is 6 months or older, call if his fever reaches 103 degrees F (39.4 degrees C) or higher
I monitor Mason throughout the day and his temperature is bouncing between 98 - 100.2. He is playing happy, in a great mood and eating well, so I don't really worry. I give him two doses of Infant Tylenol over an 8 hr time period.
Fast forward to the evening, my friend Alice is over. Clayton is with Mason in the living room while we are in another room. It's about 9:45pm. Mason should be in bed! Clayton feeds him his bedtime snack (cereal and fruits). All of a sudden there is a pounding on the door. I think, 'he needs a baby break already?'. I open the door to see a panicked Clayton and a screaming Mason who has mucous hanging out of both nostrils. I ask, what's going on? I'm really confused. Clayton runs to the bathroom with Mason and asks me to look in the living room. I go in there to discover a spot of about 2 ft by 2 ft covered in yellow baby barf. OMG. I then go to the bathroom where Clayton and Mason are in the shower, Mason is screaming. There are barf covered clothes all over the floor (for the both of them).
I abandon Alice and go into Nurse Mommy mode. While Clayton is cleaning up Mason, I'm running around calling the BC Nurses Hotline (811) [which I forgot that I can also use their site, they have the same information] and scrubbing the carpet with cleaner. I tell the nurse the story and she starts to ask me a series of questions which I have a hard time answering because I can barely hear her (Mason is still crying), she has a thick accent and I'm multitasking. Clayton tells me that he'd like to take him to BC Childrens Hospital so I hang up the phone and off we go.
For any parent who has not been to the hospital before, he is the scoop. There are many entrances into the hospital itself which you are guided by many signs. BC Women's Hospital is adjacent to the building so it's easy to get lost. There is emergency parking right out front but it requires payment. $3.00 per hour. Clayton dropped us off at the door and we went in while he took care of the car. A hand sanitizing station greets us in the entrance.
BC Childrens has a triage system. I spoke to a lovely Nurse at the front desk who asks for Mason's care card and blue card. (A blue card is a hospital issued card from your previous visit which contains Mason's contact information and health card #. If you do not have a blue card, they will provide you with one during your visit). By this time Mason was quite comfortable, had stopped crying and was a bit sleepy. We gave her a brief summary of Mason's symptoms. She then gave us some papers with the blue card attached and were told to go to the registration desk.
We were seen right away at the registration desk and the Nurse processed the paperwork. We were given a mini wrist band for Mason to wear to identify himself as a patient. We were then told to go back to the main desk to speak with the first nurse. She is English and has a nice accent. Mason likes her and coos and giggles. Some sick baby! She tells him he looks to happy to 'be here' which I'm not sure if it's a slight at us being over worried parents. I ignore it. She takes Masons temperature and it reads 98 which is back to normal. Mason doesn't 'appear' to be sick. The wait to see a doctor was about 2 hours. Yikes. I am comfortable with returning home however Clayton feels we should see a doctor. Just get him checked out. H1N1 is still hanging around and we can't be sure of what actually made Mason so sick.
Approaching the waiting room, there are about four families ahead of us (that I could see). The waiting room is devoid of toys other than coloring pages and some crayons that are in sealed packages. A sign on the wall explains the toys and books have been removed to reduce the spread of germs. So we sit. I glance around at the children and wonder why they are here. Some 'look sick', the little boy of 6? to our right looks like he has a fever and promptly throws up in a silver bowl his Mom has brought with them. Before becoming a Mom I would have thought 'yuck' but now that I have a child, my heart hurt for this little one. He was well attended by both his parents but I felt bad he was so sick. Other kids run around, others just sit sadly in their parents laps.
I think Clayton and I sat with Mason for about 30 mins, Mason started to show more energy (it was well after 11pm!) and wanted to climb up one of the walls that used to house magazines. We smile at each other. Clayton tells me that we should head home. So we inform the nurse, she gives me the blue card (yay another one lol) and we leave. The parking exits are a bit confusing. We have a parking receipt in the car however to exit you must get another ticket (If you leave within 15 mins of getting a ticket, you do not have to pay). Then once we got to an exit with the giant arm, I insert that same ticket and the arm lifts. I wonder how many people don't bother to actually buy tickets. I've never seen parking patrol. Anyhow, we take our sick little boy home.
Get him ready for bed, he's still warm. His fever has gone back up to 100.1. I wonder if I should wake up every couple of hours to check on him. I change him into a onesie and rock him in my arms singing his favorite three songs:
- Row, row, row your boat
- Twinkle, twinkle little start
- Baby one more time by Britney Spears
Okay you are probably wondering what's up with #3. I can explain. One of my favorite bands, Travis did a cover for this song which is a lot slower and sung beautifully. Have a listen. I know the song doesn't really have any correlation to a baby but I like these lyrics: When I'm not with you I lose my mind and The reason I breathe is you.
Anyhow Mason falls asleep in my arms and I put my sick little Man back into his crib, cover him with a light blanket and hope that this fever doesn't stick around.
What a night!