This Sucks

I better type quick before I try to avoid my blog again.

Took Brooklyn to the doctor for her prolonged fever. She also threw up when I dropped her off at her nannysitter's house. I didn't really think too much of that. She wasn't complaining and just randomly threw up. She drank two more ounces than normal and I assumed she just ate too much. I called the pedi at about 3:30 to give them an update on the fever. They said they wanted her seen that evening. She and I go and of course she's a hot mess. Hot literally from the fever, but her appointment was at 5:15pm and her bedtime is 6:00. So she was a mix of hating the doctor, being sick, and ready for bed. They did a strep test and a flu culture. Have you ever had a flu culture? It's a long Qtip stuck way up your nose. Not fun for an adult let alone a baby. She cried and cried. It really is heartbreaking to see your child so upset. I never imagined it could be that rough! After those labs came back the doctor said they were both negative. I thought that was good news, but what it really meant is they still needed to find out what was wrong with her.

Apparently with the long fever and throwing up, it appeared Miss B could have a UTI and they weren't sending us home without testing. The problem? Baby plus catheter. It's kinda hard to have a one year old pee in a cup, so the catheter exam was a must and the doctor let me know that it hurt and babies don't like it one bit. I wanted cry. I was there alone because I didn't think this appointment would be that big of a deal. I was totally fighting back tears and decided that crying was NOT an option. Once Brooklyn saw me cry, then she'd be more upset and scared. I had to pretend that everything is okay. Before the test the doctor told me that UTIs in a baby this young could be from contamination but could also be an anatomy issue called urinary reflux. In this condition, the babies tubes that run from the kidneys to the bladder are windy instead of straight. What happens is urine collects in there and then can actually work it's way back to the kidneys and cause a kidney infection. As you can imagine, I do start crying at this point. I know things could totally be worse and this is really not a life-threatening thing, but it was no where near what I expected to hear.

Brooklyn was a champ with the catheter procedure. She cried but the nurses worked fast and she stopped crying as soon as they were done. Every time something hurts her I've been pointing my finger at it and telling it "no." Together, she and I told the nurses off and waited for her test results.

So UTI it is, but we won't get the results until Monday on what type. The doctor was leaning toward the urinary reflux condition, and since we've battled a couple of random fevers in the past, I think it may be that too. Before we left the doctors office, they have her an IM shot of broadspectrum antibiotic to start fighting this off. We are also giving her antibiotics orally.

That night we fought fevers in Brooklyn of up to 104. I got up every hour and checked her temperature. If you don't have an Exergen Temporal Thermometer, I think you should get one. Mine is always a degree higher, but it allowed me to take her temperature in her sleep. Mr. LTM held wet cloths on her head throughout the night, and we went back and forth wondering how you have a healthy baby one minute and an issue the next. I know this has nothing to do with us, but I'm playing mind games with myself. Why did I take her to daycare on Thursday and not call the doctor in the morning? I know the answer is because her fever was gone, but I shouldn't have worried so much about having a random substitute in my classroom and more about my own child. I did learn a lesson though and next time I won't think twice.

Brooklyn is doing better today. It seems so far that her fever has broken. Yesterday was again rough, but I think the antibiotic shot has really kicked in. She'll need an ultrasound done in the next two weeks to check her kidneys and make sure there is no infection. She'll also need a iodine test done to check her "tubes" and see if they are windy. For those infertility girls, it's similar to an HSG. Poor Brookie, I hope they are fast and rather painless.

I'll update when her test results come back. Here is a link to Children's Memorial about the urinary reflux.