What a Thursday!

Thursday was a day I hope to never ever experience again!

Thursday morning Cassidy woke up feeling a little warm so I took her temperature (auxiliary) and it was 100.8. We figured she was just teething and in spite of the "no fever" rule at daycare, I just gave her some Tylenol and brought her in because I don't have anymore vacation time to use and Michael couldn't take the day off. I told them when I dropped her off that she was feeling a little warm but that she was likely just teething.

I called her pediatrician on my way in to work to schedule an appointment though, for as late in the day as possible, just to be on the safe side since she had the fever on Friday and was still on a semi-bottle strike.

At about 11:50 I was on the phone with an agent when my other line kept ringing. Then I saw my cell phone light up (on silent while I'm at work) but I was still on the phone with the agent so I couldn't answer it. After I got off the phone I listened to my voicemail and it was Cassidy's teacher letting me know in a very urgent voice that I needed to call her back immediately. So I called daycare and asked to be transferred to Infant II. The person that answered said "oh, is this Cassidy's mom? hang on!" Ms. Anna answered the phone and told me that Cassidy's running a fever of 104.5! I said I'd be right there, hung up and pretty much just left everything in a lurch.

I was on the verge of tears as I drove to daycare and I called the pediatrician again to see about getting her in immediately. When I got to daycare they had her little clothes unbuttoned and a damp washcloth over her head. It made me feel a little bit better that she still smiled at me when I showed up. They told me that they checked her temperature with 3 different thermometers (auxiliary), including my thermometer in her diaper bag and got the same reading all 3 times. I gave her tylenol as soon as I got there and we left. Thoughtfully and thankfully, her teacher had all her stuff all packed up and ready to go so I was pretty much in and out

I rushed her over to the doctor's office (which is right across the expressway from daycare) and they called the on-call nurse since it was lunch time. The nurse came in, weighed her and then took her temperature and it had already gone down to 102.6.

After the nurse left and we were waiting on the doctor, Cassidy started getting hungry. She had 2 bottles from daycare in her diaper bag but they were cold and so I was trying to figure out a way to warm one up. There was a sink in the exam room so I put the bottle in the sink and ran hot water over it. Unfortunately that wasn't fast enough but I didn't want to nurse her because I knew I didn't have enough and that would just upset her even more. So I decided to just try to give the bottle to her semi-cold just to see if she'd take it. It was amusing because her eyes widened slightly when she realized the milk wasn't warm like it usually is but without skipping a beat she kept on taking it. Of course she still didn't take the whole thing. She's only been taking about 2 - 2.5 ozs. before she decides she doesn't want anything more to do with the bottle but at least she's drinking some.

The doctor came in but it wasn't Cassidy's pediatrician, it was another doctor within the ADC group. She examined Cassidy and asked me some questions and then said that they would do a complete blood count (thanks, Jen, for helping me remember the right acronym!) and insert a catheter to get a urine sample for a urine culture. They came back pretty quickly and said she definitely had a urinary tract infection and they needed to draw blood for a blood culture which had to be drawn from her arm. I had hoped they could draw it from the same big toe that she had the CBC done on but they said it had to come from the arm. Poor Cassidy didn't appreciate being poked yet again!

After drawing the blood the doctor came back in and explained to me that Cassidy's WBC count was at 22,400 which is higher than normal and that there was a concern for pyelonephritis so they would give her Rocephin (antibiotic) and I needed to come back the next day for follow-up. Two nurses then came in to give Cassidy her Rocephin shots, one on each leg. They said there was also Lidocaine in the shot to ebb the pain and they counted down and did both shots simultaneously. Cassidy REALLY didn't like that and started crying. It was heart-breaking! Even now she's still a little hoarse from crying. So sad!

The doctor told me to expect a fever but not to give Tylenol unless it's above 101 to avoid masking it to where they won't know tomorrow if she had a fever still or not and if her fever spikes up again to head straight to Children's Hospital of Austin. She filled out a little prescription sheet with "Pyelonephritis" written on it, information from the CBC and that blood culture and urine culture were pending. She told me that if we did have to go to CHOA to just give that sheet to them and they'd know what was going on.

Well, as it turned out, before 7:00 pm when I took her temperature again it was up to 104.3 so we headed off to CHOA. Now I have heard many wonderful things about this hospital and I know they are great because my friend's little boy practically lived there when he was a baby but maybe it was just because I was stressed and emotional, who knows...I just wasn't impressed.

We got there about 7:30 pm and checked-in and then waited about an hour before they called Cassidy's name. They brought her back, took her temperature (it was at 102.9) and blood pressure and told us to take her out of her clothes and put a hospital gown on her, then sent us back out to the waiting room to wait some more. About 30 minutes after that they called her name again and brought us to an exam room. Soon after that the insurance guy came in and took down Cassidy's insurance info/made a copy of the insurance card. Then we waited till a little after 11:00 pm for the doctor to come in.

She asked some questions and wanted to know what my take was on why the doctor would have told me to bring her in if her fever spiked. I told her that the doctor had mentioned the need to admit her if her fever spiked. The ER doctor said that really a fever of 104 was typical with an infection and that babies can tolerate very high fevers and that unless the fever was 106 or higher, a trip to the ER wasn't necessary. She said she was going to give my doctor a call to get their take on it and then be back. That was about 11:15 pm. Then at 11:55 pm someone comes in to ask if I have the number for my doctor. I guess that meant they hadn't called yet!!! Well, Cassidy was REALLY tired and cranky at this point because she couldn't fall asleep with all the commotion so that in turn irritated me. But anyways, I told the lady that the number should've been on the little prescription sheet that I gave them (which was attached to her chart) but here's the number and gave it to her.

The doctor came back in at 12:15 am and said they talked with the on-call ADC doctor who agreed that Cassidy didn't need to be admitted so we could go home (which was a relief). She also said that if a baby was sleeping and had a fever, to not worry about administering Tylenol unless the baby was fussy and that she'd have the nurse come in to give Cassidy some Motrin and we could go home. Cassidy, unfortunately, didn't take the Motrin too well and threw up all over Michael and the nurse but they couldn't give her any more because they didn't know how much of it she actually kept in. We were told to alternate between Motrin and Tylenol every 4 hours and that would keep her fever under control.

We finally got home close to 1:00 am and were exhausted. Cassidy was soooo ready to go to sleep. When I nursed her around 3:00 am (dream feeding) she felt really warm but I didn't take her temperature or give her Tylenol because of what the ER doctor had said about letting her sleep.

Her follow-up doctor's appointment was at 9:50 am and it was with her pediatrician which I was glad for. We told her what all went on the evening prior and she said for us to not give Cassidy any Motrin. Apparently, Motrin is not for babies under 6 months of age or a certain weight and Cassidy was both under 6 months and under the required weight so she wanted us to stick with Tylenol. She also said to never wait till a baby's fever is at 106 before taking them in to the ER or to see the doctor. And she also said that if a baby's fever is at 101.5 or higher to go ahead and treat it, even if the baby is asleep.

Now I trust Cassidy's pediatrician, so we're going to go with what she says over what the ER doctor said. Plus, to me, what Cassidy's pediatrician said is more Mommy-friendly. I sure as heck don't want to wait till Cassidy's fever is at 106 before I decide it's time for her to see the doctor. I think I'd die of stress before the fever hit 106!

Anyways, they did another CBC and the WBC count was at 19,000 so it was down from yesterday but still high so they gave another shot of Rocephin but only 1 this time around. They also gave me a prescription for Augmentin but didn't want me to get it filled till they called me today with the results from the urine culture so they know they prescribed the right antibiotic to treat the infection.

We have a follow-up appointment for the 6th of February and they're going to do a VCUG to make sure that there wasn't anything anatomically wrong which would cause the UTI and also to make sure she doesn't have reflux.

Cassidy was supposed to have her 6-month well check exam this Tuesday but because of all this, she won't be getting her shots till the 6th when they are sure that there's no more infection and that she's well again. I sure hope she is by then! She hasn't had a fever since Friday morning so I think she's well on the road to recovery.

Anyways, this was such a bummer of a post, so here are some happy pictures: