After feeding Carter yesterday afternoon, I noticed that he was warmer than normal and given the flu’s that are going around right now, I took his temperature just in case. My first complaint is that it is hard to get an accurate temperature reading when babies are this small – I used the ear thermometer and it ranged anywhere from 97-101 and the under the arm one came in at 98.5 & you are supposed to add 1 degree, so 99.5. Just to be on the safe side, I called the doctor to let them know.
Thankfully Carter’s only symptom was the rise in his temperature – he was eating well, very alert, still active … the only difference was that he was a little fussier than normal. After going to the doctor (his temp came in at 100 & he weighs 10lbs!), they gave him a dose of Infant Tylenol, drew some blood, and told me to take him to the ER tonight if his temp reaches 101 so they can do a full work up. Being told to take your child to the ER if they get a specific symptom is stressful – especially since we couldn’t seem to get an accurate temperature reading. So Jeremy stopped by Babies R Us and purchased a rectal thermometer so that we could get a reading on all three and see if things were okay (poor Carter).
We made it through the night with temps only in the 99s and he slept much better than he had the past couple of nights. This morning he fed really well, was active, alert, and coo’ing at me while we played after he was fed. We have a follow up appointment at 11:15 this morning and will get the results of the blood draw & hopefully will find that this is just a virus he caught and he is fine (given he is acting fine, I am now not too worried). Fingers crossed though!
