Friday, April 06, 2012

Nurse Mommy on call


My son had an 102 fever all day Tuesday. It started Monday night. That night was brutal. Between his fever and my daughter constantly waking up asking for me, I was up all night. I didn't sleep or at least it didn't feel as if I did.
The next day, DS remained at a constant 102 all day and demanded to be held and nursed constantly.
I forgot how hot a 15 lb baby could feel against your skin. I was lugging around my own portable space heater.
I gave him a bath to relax and settle him and massaged him with Eucalpytus. By Wednesday morning, he was much better. He had some massive nose rockets but DH is the master of extracting those meteorites.
Throughout Tuesday, I kept a cool head until around 6pm when nighttime parenting began. That's when the lack of sleep and high pitched cries of discomfort hit me.
That's when my brain went into, should I review the symptoms again and see what's up? For a brief spell I contemplated the fever being more than a symptom of a cold.
The spell only lasted a brief moment but all moms do that. All moms at some point go, is it more than what I think it is?
I don't think dads do that. At least not the dads I know. My husband looked at DS and said, "He has a fever. Ok." and walked away.
In our family our general rule about fevers is simple, if it's a standard fever, don't panic. Assess other symptoms and rule out illnesses. If the fever is high (104+) and doesn't dissipate, then contact the doctor.
We don't panic about a fever. We take it as a sign our body is fighting something and needs fluids and rest to allow it to fight the fight.
We have also been blessed and are thankful.
The hardest thing about my kids and illness is at this young age, especially, they can't tell you what's going on and no matter what you tell them, they are still very young and do not quiet understand what's going on.
All DS knew was that he was achy and hurt and hot. When he woke up, he'd wake up with a high pitch wail that said, "What is going on?!"
I will say on Wednesday when he woke up with a big grin, it made the sleepless nights and trying day worth it. He grabbed my hair and pulled me close to him to kiss me and all was right with the world.