Fortunately Josh's fever was not unexpected because Josh got a few shots at the doctors Friday morning and the pediatrician warned us a low grade fever was a possibility. Unfortunately we didn't ask what a low grade fever was and 101.4 didn't seem low grade to me. When we first took Josh to the pediatrician they said a fever over 100.3 was serious and cause take him to the emergency room. When he was well over that temperature I began to freak out.
Ruth was helping to take care of Josh when he started to act very upset and would not calm down. This was my first sign that something might be wrong and the thermometer confirmed his fever. Ruth and Margaret helped to calm Josh down as I freaked out.
Margaret suggested we call the pediatrician before rushing to the hospital. I left a message on the after hours voicemail and we got a call back in 5 minutes. The doctor we had seen that day was the one on call and he said everything was fine. Since we knew the cause of the fever and it is actually a good reaction to the medication he was not concerned. He reminded us to try giving Josh and bath and if he wasn't too uncomfortable to try to avoid treating the fever with Tylenol.
I felt much better after the phone call and Josh began to relax a bit after being fed. He was acting more normal which made me feel a lot better. We then gave him a bath and he seemed to enjoy it and was very calm afterwards. We put him to bed and he slept 7 straight hours! In the morning we measured his temperature again and he was back to normal.
In the two months we have been parents, Margaret and I seem to react to things differently. Often times one of us is very worried and usually the other is able to calm them down. In this case Margaret was right and her calmness and suggestion to call the doctor before doing anything was the right thing to do.
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| On the way to the doctors office |
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| Josh feeling better after his bath |
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