One of the scariest days of my life...

Actually it was two days but wasn't scary until today. My little man had a slight fever yesterday, 99.1 and a runny nose as well, just a little. So I called made some phone calls to confirm my thoughts of teething. Yes, Brad's brother ran a fever with a runny nose while teething, my nieces and nephews both had high fevers, runny noses and coughing right before they cut a tooth. So I felt pretty certain Chase was about to cut a tooth. He's almost 6.5 months and should be getting one anytime...this week I thought.

Anyway, throughout the day on Sunday his fever fluctuated between 99 and 101.7 degrees. Finally after some doses of Tylenol, I again check his temperature around 8 pm and it was 103...which scared me. So I called the pediatrician which was at this time the nurses hotline. They told me not to be too concerned unless it was more than three days, or if he was vomiting/diarrhea. He had none. So we just watched him all night and he nursed just fine. Brad stayed home with him and he was doing fine, eating cereal, peas but not a lot of milk and still a high fever so he decided to make an appointment to take him to the doctor. I came home early, nursed, and we went to the pediatrician to confirm our thoughts of teething. Before I left I checked his temp and he was at 102.8, high again.

We arrived at the doctors, Chase was weighed, 17.65 lbs. :), and his temperature taken 104.4 :( which made me very upset. The doctor confirmed that it was not tooth! What? Oh no, at this point Brad and I both looked at each other worried. Then the doctor continued to say she would like for him to get blood work, chest x-rays and a bag on him to catch his pee. What? What? We were here to just confirm him teething, what's going on. They put a bag on him and sent us off to the lab.

Oh the lab. Poor Chase is so extremely hot, exhausted and glassy eyes. I hugged him tightly while the nurse took his blood which turned out to be difficult. How awful to restrain my baby boy while the nurse "dug" around trying to find his vein. Chase was so exhausted he hardly had any energy to cry and fight back. But finally they were done and Chase received a cute Cars band-aid...too bad he doesn't know that Cars band-aids are supposed to make him happy. But mommy's love and hugging soothed him just fine, better than any Cars band-aid could do.

So now we are off to the x-rays...the one where Brad and I both lost it. We waited for about 45 minutes which was fine with me because Chase was able to get some sleep. We entered the room and I was prepared to lay him on the table, but the nurse pointed to this 50's looking contraption that I was supposed to put my little baby in otherwise they can't get a clear x-ray. What? Hold his arms over his head while I strap him in. What? I was mortified. Chase was crying. Brad as crying. I was just in shock. Then he said we had to step into the other room. So there sits my little boy, scared, sick and crying. All I could do was talk to him. I looked at him and that was it. I was done. I've never seen that look in his eyes and care to never see it again. Reliving it is making me upset all over again. Thankfully the nurse was quick and we were able to take him out. The name of this awful but needed contraption...The Pigg o Stat.

After this awful experience we headed back to the doctor's office for the results. Brad and I prayed as Chase cuddle in my arms. Just when we thought he was done with pricking and prodding the nurse reminded us that she had to take the pee bag off. Ouch! My poor baby. Finally everything was over and we just waited for results. The doctor told us that the x-rays looked pretty good, no pneumonia. His urine was good, just low. His white blood count was a little elevated but not to be concerned about, no bacterial infection. Her prognosis...a viral infection. I guess there is a gastro something going around. The high fever was his body's way of fighting the infection off. So after 2.5 hours we finally left for home.

Just when we thought he was good...he projectile vomited and a half hour later he had diarrhea. So I called the doctor back and she told us to give him some Pedialyte since I was depleted and he needed his fluids. So off to Wegmans Brad went while I cuddled Chase.

So I learned a valuable lesson...just because he may have all the symptoms, it could be something else. I surely would like to never have to go through that again and will pray earnestly that no other babies that Chase has been in contact with will have to experience the same.