There are many firsts in a baby's life - first bath, first smile, first time sleeping through the night. This Friday, Jonas had a few firsts that no one wants: first fever, first trip to the ER, first spinal tap.
It all started late Thursday night, when Jonas wouldn't calm down. After three hours of rocking and shushing and swaddling and pacing, Sean took Jonas' temperature. He had a fever. So, we called our pediatrician's office and the elevated temp in a 6 week old bought ourselves one of the first appointments of the day.
Fevers are potentially big trouble in little ones under eight weeks. It's either a sign of their body fighting off something mild, or it's a sign of their body struggling with something very very bad. Unfortunately, or fortunately, Jonas didn't really have other symptoms beyond the fever, the extra fussiness, and a slightly diminished appetite. So, the PA decided we should watch Jonas for a little while, and check in periodically during the day to decide if he should go to the hospital for more tests Just the thought of testing and a tiny not quite ten pound person in an ER made me weepy.
During the day, Jonas slept. I watched him. He ate. I took his temperature. He slept. I watched him. More thermometer action, more yelling, more watching, and a temperature that, no matter how many dirty looks I gave the thermometer, kept creeping up. Dirty looks are equally ineffective when directed toward illness or bullies or toddlers.
At 4:30, we hustled into the car and drove to the local branch of Denver's Children's Hospital. My mother came over to stay with Axel.
Here, there was more temperature taking and watching. And watching. Discussions with the doctor. Then a flurry of poking and proding and drawing of bodily fluids. Two sticks to draw blood from Jonas' tiny uncooperative veins; a urine sample; spinal fluid; so many rectal temperatures in one day that poor Jonas seemed to know what was coming the moment we pulled a diaper tab.
Then we waited. And watched. And waited. And wondered why the cute little hot drinks machine was out of hot cocoa and tea. And ate (well, tried to eat but couldn't quite get much down) fast food for the first time in at least a year.
A few hours after all of the fluids had been drawn, results trickled in. Things looked good. Mostly. The blood work showed signs that Jonas was likely fighting off a mild virus of some kind, but possibly had an infection - thus, at 11:30 pm, a big, two-needle shot of antibiotics was given. After over seven hours sitting on those uncomfortable plastic chairs in a hospital room, hours in which I went from teary to practical no-nonsense discussions to uncontrollable giggling from exhaustion and relief, we were sent home.
The next day, I took the little patient back to the hospital for follow up. By then, the fever had dropped to just over 99 degrees. Whatever it was had passed, and we'd made it through the murky waters of a fever of unknown origin. The lab continued to check Jonas' samples for 48 hours to make sure nothing nefarious lurked in his blood or pee or meneges, and nothing appeared. Jonas was doing so well by Sunday morning that he rolled over for the first time: fueled by tummy time fury, he shoved his tiny fist into the ground and pushed himself over onto his back, then kept on yelling.
At that point, I was a sleep-deprived nervous wreck running on fumes and arguing with Sean about whether or not one truly reaches a point where it's better to just stay awake than to get even an hour of sleep. My lovely, generous mother and aunt, recognizing a mama on the edge of losing it, stepped in on Sunday morning to take Axel to the museum with his adored second cousins (they're in town for a family reunion).
All of this followed a minor car accident (Sean was rear-ended, with Axel in the car), a bunch of interviews of nanny candidates, and my own six-week postpartum check up. Yeah, it was sort of a crazy week. We're hoping this coming week, which includes the family reunion, will only include the normal baby/toddler/small child craziness, things like skipped naps and thrown tater tots and overzealous kisses.
