When Derek got home from the store, I relayed the information and we looked at the syringes that came with each medication. I had been looking online and everything seemed to say don't give Motrin to kids under 6 months old. The dosage for the Motrin seemed WAY too high, like 2 full syringes. I said we were just going to stick with the Tylenol and that's what we did. We gave it to her and put a cool cloth on her head then put her to bed. She woke up multiple times in the night, but wasn't eating well and we continued to give her medication as needed. Wednesday night she was at 101.8 and things continued.
On the 21, things seemed to be up the up and up and she wasn't having a fever, but still wasn't eating very well or urinating as much. I pumped more this week than I ever have (my frozen milk supply more than tripled). I went to my OBGYN that day and told him about what was going on and what the nurse had said. He made it seem like you should be worried about anything over 102, which seemed more reasonable to me. Friday afternoon her fever came back (under 101). I thought about calling the doctor again and trying to get her in, but remembered what the nurse said and figured they wouldn't do anything.
Then yesterday hit.
I took her temp at 11:30 and she was 102.7. This made me very anxious. I gave her Tylenol and started asking my family what I should do. I called the on-call nurse again (got the same lady) and she asked if I had been alternating between Tylenol and Motrin. I said no, just Tylenol. To which she replied, "Oh yeah, she's only 3 months, you can't give her Motrin." I was NOT happy at this point--not only had she told me last time to give her a medication she shouldn't be having, but Brynlee probably would have overdosed on it if I had just trusted the nurse's word. The nurse didn't clarify if she was talking about Children's Motrin or Infant's Motrin. Naturally with an infant, we got the infant's Motrin. The dosage she gave us was for children's, which was at least double the infant dosage. My momma-bear instincts were already flaring.
The phone call continued.
She went on again about how they don't worry about it until 104, I told her what my OBGYN said, and she said that only for 2 month olds is a fever over 102 a medical emergency. She said if I'm really that worried about it (in what to me was a very condescending tone), I can take her to urgent care, but they'd probably not be able to do anything for me and just tell me to keep doing what I'm doing. Annoyed I said, "So I just let my 3 month old go on with a fever indefinitely? At what point has it lasted too long?" She asked when it had started again and said, "Well I guess if it hasn't started to trend down by tomorrow, I guess you could take her in." I was annoyed and said goodbye.
I felt so dismissed and like I was being silly for being concerned. I checked her temp an hour after giving the Tylenol and she was still 101, so at that point I decided I was taking her in. Derek was working, and I really didn't want to do this alone. Thankfully my mom came with me and we took her to Urgent Care. Already I felt so much more heard than I had been from the doctor's office. The doctor came in and checked her ears, throat, lungs and heart, as well as her lymph nodes. He said my fear: everything looked normal. I hate going to the doctor and being told everything is fine when it clearly isn't. Thankfully he didn't stop there. He said with little girls, especially, but babies with unexplained fevers in general, there are two more things that need to be checked: her urine and her blood to check for infection.
"Unfortunately we can't do that here, so you're going to have to go to the ER."
I felt like I was in shock a little bit. I wasn't ready to take my tiny baby to the ER. But to the ER we went.
We got there and got checked in relatively quickly. I LOVED everyone we saw there. I'm not kidding. People listened to my concerns, validated my worry, and took care of my little girl. We DID wait foreeveeerrrr to see the doctor, but I was okay with it. The nurse asked a bunch of questions, took her vitals, and told the doctor he needed to lay eyes on her and make sure everything was okay. She mentioned that since she was barely 3 months old, they might treat her like a 2 month old, which would mean more tests (I swear she mentioned a spinal tap, which kinda freaked me out), but it would just depend on the doctor.
When he finally checked her, he repeated what they did at the urgent care, giving the same result: everything looked normal. But then he said next they'd check her urine, but at this point they wouldn't be checking her blood. I was a little surprised by that, but figured we'd see what the urine was like.
When it was finally time to catheterize her, I was feeling really nervous for her. They were getting ready and my anxiety was building as they kept saying it was really hard to see because she's so tiny. They noticed some puss coming out, so they figured this was going to be the culprit of her fever. Luckily, on the first try they got the catheter in and they got some urine; turns out her urine was VERY "dirty" and cloudy.
Although this wasn't a good thing, it was a huge relief to know that we now knew what was going on and could start helping her. The nurse turned to me and said, "good for you trusting your mommy instincts." I know it was simple, but that really meant so much to me.
They gave her a shot of a broad-spectrum antibiotic, and a prescription to pick one up. They'd be culturing her urine and if whatever grew wasn't covered by the prescribed antibiotic, they'd call and prescribe something else. As they were discharging us, they told us if she vomits or has severe lethargy to bring her back to the ER and that she needs to follow up with her doctor this coming week.
We went home and I then had to have the joy of finding a pharmacy that was still open, and of course my phone was dead. It took me about an hour and a half (after begging the people in riteaid to let me use a phone) to finally get her prescription.
I cried as I was driving around looking for it; I guess I had been holding my emotions in, and I was so tired and drained by this point that I just couldn't hold it in anymore.
When I finally got home, Brynlee was feeling REALLY warm and I took her temp: 103.7. I started to feel really anxious again--this was dangerously close to what everyone agreed was a "medical emergency." I gave her tylenol, and held a cool cloth over her head until I felt she was cooling down, and then laid her in her bassinet.
I couldn't sleep.
I stayed up for an hour, checking on her, then finally fell asleep. In another hour, I woke up and peeked in on her. She was wide awake, laying there contently, and gave me tons of smiles when she saw me. She felt much cooler, and I was a little more at peace.
Today she still has not been eating well at all, and slept more than half the day. She's still got a fever and I'm praying that things will start looking better soon. I miss my poor baby girl's happy self. She just isn't the same. And it is no fun pumping medicine into my little baby. She isn't a fan either.
So grateful for doctors and nurses that listened to my concerns and found the culprit of what was ailing my little princess.
Now to find a new doctor to take her to so I don't have to deal with that stupid office ever again.
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