I've worked the past 24 out of 48 hours and am headed in for another shift tonight. I'm exhausted, but will have the next few days off to recover.
I came home last night to a feverish little one and realized how very lucky I am to know what I know. It was one of the reasons I went to nursing school. It's scary when your babies are sick - even if it's something that seems mild - and it's even worse when you don't know what to do for them.
I thought it might be nice to write a post about how I assess and treat my own children. Not as medical advice, simply as a way to let you know what my thought process is when my babies get sick.
A few weeks ago, with the change of weather, Amelia showed small signs of congestion with a little, productive cough. We all suffer from seasonal allergies, so I wasn't concerned. Sometimes, on days when she seemed pretty stuffy, I'd give her some Benadryl to help her sleep and keep her histamines at bay.
Yesterday however, she started running a fever. It's been between 99-101.5 and we've had to have Ibuprofen and Tylenol round the clock to keep her fever down. I don't usually treat anything below 100+ because fever is one of the ways our bodies fight infection but every child is different. Amelia doesn't run high fevers so a 101 is pretty high for her. Since the medication would break her fever, I wasn't worried about needing to give it every four to six hours. The main thing I worry about is keeping her hydrated and making sure she's had enough wet diapers throughout the day.
I'm confident that she's just got a sinus infection due to the change of weather. I made an appointment with her pediatrician for today and will ask them to swab her for flu just in case because little ones have trouble telling you where they hurt. She's still been pretty active and is eating (as much as she normally does, which is not much) and her bowel and bladder habits have not changed.
I kept her home today and we've just been laying around watching movies and playing. She seems to need a little extra love but hasn't been too clingy which is another thing that makes me think it's nothing serious.
I'll keep you updated via comments about her diagnosis and follow up.
