So it's been a tough couple of days for Sadie.
She started running a fever Wednesday afternoon, but it was low and she had no other symptoms. So we assumed it was teething which she has been working hard at lately. She ran a fever that evening and night, and it peaked around 102.4 in the middle of the night. So I took her to the doctor yesterday morning. There were some blisters in the back of her throat, but a strep test came back negative. The doctor said it was probably viral and to just keep her hydrated and feed her soft foods, in case her throat was real sore.
Then at 6:30 yesterday evening her fever peaked to 104.9 (taken under her arm). We quickly put her in a lukewarm bath and gave her some cold juice and Tylenol. Within 30 minutes it was down to 102.7.
Then at 10:30, her temperature had gotten back up to 104.5. After another bath, cold juice and Tylenol, I called the St. Vincent Children's hotline. The nurse that called us back recommended we take Sadie to the ER. So to the ER we went. The doctor there didn't believe the blisters on her throat looked bad enough to be causing such a high fever. The only other thing he could think that it might be was a UTI, since she really didn't have any symptoms other than the blisters. So they did a catheter to get a urine sample and tested that quickly (about 45 minutes). Sure enough, the results came back positive. In fact, her white blood cell count was off the charts...."packed"...too many to count. So the doctor prescribed an antibiotic and sent us on our way. He said that since we'd be giving her the antibiotic every 12 hours for 10 days, we might as well start at 7:00 or something more convenient than 3:00. Well at 7:00 this morning, before having any antibiotics, Sadie started vomiting. She was extremely pale and shivering, but her temp was only 101.1. So we started trying to give her some food/drink to help her out a bit. She couldn't hold anything down and was heaving alot. So I called her doctor at 7:45 and explained everything that was going on. He said to bring her in, and they would check her vitals and give her an antibiotic shot. By the time we got to the doctor, Sadie had perked up a bit (that would be short lived with the shots coming!). All checked out alright. So Dr. Miller talked to us and gave us a good explanation of bladder infections in babies. Evidently it's extremely rare for children under 4 to get bladder infections, and especially this young. There is a possibility she has a kidney infection as well, but we won't know that until the results of her culture (taken from last night's urine sample) are ready... probably on Monday. Dr. Miller did say that high fever and vomiting are pretty characteristic of a kidney infection. If that is the case, Sadie will have to have some more tests to ensure nothing else is wrong. Hopefully that won't be the case. Right?!
She seems to be doing better overall now. She's drank almost 8 ounces of fluids (juice, water, and formula) so far today and is snacking on some Goldfish crackers as we speak. Yesterday we had to actually force a bottle into her mouth because she just wasn't interested, yet she NEEDED fluids badly. So we're much happier with her excitement for eating and drinking today. The shot at the doctor was rough. She had to have 2 due to the amount she needed. So those were bad and she pretty much slept for the hour that we had to wait at the hospital after that to ensure there were no adverse reactions. Hopefully all will go well today, and she won't have any more vomiting episodes or fever spikes. If that happens, she may have to be admitted into the hospital for IV medicine.
Anyway, Carmel St. Vincent is our new second home. We've been there 3 days this week and for hours at a time. Hopefully we don't have to go back today or tomorrow. Here are pics from this morning after returning from the doctor.
She got a couple of super cooool band aids out of the deal.
She kept making this face while she was eating some Goldfish and Cheerios earlier. Not sure why! :)
Oops, I dropped one.....
Then at 6:30 yesterday evening her fever peaked to 104.9 (taken under her arm). We quickly put her in a lukewarm bath and gave her some cold juice and Tylenol. Within 30 minutes it was down to 102.7.
Then at 10:30, her temperature had gotten back up to 104.5. After another bath, cold juice and Tylenol, I called the St. Vincent Children's hotline. The nurse that called us back recommended we take Sadie to the ER. So to the ER we went. The doctor there didn't believe the blisters on her throat looked bad enough to be causing such a high fever. The only other thing he could think that it might be was a UTI, since she really didn't have any symptoms other than the blisters. So they did a catheter to get a urine sample and tested that quickly (about 45 minutes). Sure enough, the results came back positive. In fact, her white blood cell count was off the charts...."packed"...too many to count. So the doctor prescribed an antibiotic and sent us on our way. He said that since we'd be giving her the antibiotic every 12 hours for 10 days, we might as well start at 7:00 or something more convenient than 3:00. Well at 7:00 this morning, before having any antibiotics, Sadie started vomiting. She was extremely pale and shivering, but her temp was only 101.1. So we started trying to give her some food/drink to help her out a bit. She couldn't hold anything down and was heaving alot. So I called her doctor at 7:45 and explained everything that was going on. He said to bring her in, and they would check her vitals and give her an antibiotic shot. By the time we got to the doctor, Sadie had perked up a bit (that would be short lived with the shots coming!). All checked out alright. So Dr. Miller talked to us and gave us a good explanation of bladder infections in babies. Evidently it's extremely rare for children under 4 to get bladder infections, and especially this young. There is a possibility she has a kidney infection as well, but we won't know that until the results of her culture (taken from last night's urine sample) are ready... probably on Monday. Dr. Miller did say that high fever and vomiting are pretty characteristic of a kidney infection. If that is the case, Sadie will have to have some more tests to ensure nothing else is wrong. Hopefully that won't be the case. Right?!
She seems to be doing better overall now. She's drank almost 8 ounces of fluids (juice, water, and formula) so far today and is snacking on some Goldfish crackers as we speak. Yesterday we had to actually force a bottle into her mouth because she just wasn't interested, yet she NEEDED fluids badly. So we're much happier with her excitement for eating and drinking today. The shot at the doctor was rough. She had to have 2 due to the amount she needed. So those were bad and she pretty much slept for the hour that we had to wait at the hospital after that to ensure there were no adverse reactions. Hopefully all will go well today, and she won't have any more vomiting episodes or fever spikes. If that happens, she may have to be admitted into the hospital for IV medicine.
Anyway, Carmel St. Vincent is our new second home. We've been there 3 days this week and for hours at a time. Hopefully we don't have to go back today or tomorrow. Here are pics from this morning after returning from the doctor.
She got a couple of super cooool band aids out of the deal.
She kept making this face while she was eating some Goldfish and Cheerios earlier. Not sure why! :)
Oops, I dropped one.....
