Last Tuesday John had a fever of 101 after his morning nap. I gave him some Tylenol and kept an eye on him. In the afternoon (again after nap) he was up to 103.5, so I called the doc. The office turned out to be closed, but our pediatrician was on call for the night. She said we could keep giving him Tylenol as needed through the night, since he didn't seem to have other symptoms. The next morning he was back down to around 101 again. The doctor called to check on him (I LOVE our new pediatrician, she is great) and didn't sound too worried. He was a little tired, but otherwise seemed fine. Afternoon nap, same thing: woke up hot, this time 104. Scary for Mommy because I've never been one to spike a temperature; if I get to 101 that is pretty high for me, so 104 almost seems dangerous. Called the doc again, office was closed again but she was on call (again). This time she said keep an eye on him overnight, call if anything seems worse, and either way she wanted to see him the next day.
So the next morning I dutifully called as soon as the office opened up and made an appointment. John's fever was back down around 101. We left the house at 10am, 45 minutes before the appointment so I'd have time to scrape off the car, which I did, got in, tried to back up, got stuck, rocked forward, couldn't move anymore. Grr. Debated for a moment what to do, then decided to leave the baby in the car (which was running and now warm) while I ran in to look for Joe at his classroom... which he wasn't in. So I went to ask the secretary if she knew where he might be... and she couldn't find him either. But she called one of the maintenance guys to come over and dig me out, which was nice. I called the doctor's office (since by now we were going to be late) and they said if I could be there within 20 minutes then we wouldn't have to reschedule. Well, it took 25 minutes -- close enough.
John weighed 17 pounds 4 ounces and his official temperature at the office was under 100. (I sorta hate when that happens. It reminds me of bringing your car in to be fixed and by the time you get there it's stopped doing whatever it was doing.) The doctor checked him over thoroughly. Lungs were clear, ears not infected (which is what I had been afraid of), everything looked fine. Last thing she wanted to do was rule out a urinary tract infection... meaning she needed a sample. First she tried a catheter, when that didn't seem to be working she stuck a little bag over his parts and asked if I minded waiting 15-20 minutes. Which I didn't. (Sidenote: an advantage to not having a watch is that it's hard to tell just how much time is going by. I don't think the waiting time drags as much when you can't watch the minutes tick away. Not that it doesn't still drag.) Anyway, naturally when the doctor came back the bag was still empty. The doctor said she didn't want to keep us there all day waiting for him to pee, so why didn't we head on home. She gave me a specimen cup to fill once he filled the bag, and told me I could bring it back that day or the next.
So I thanked her of course, but in my head I was thinking there is no WAY I'm going all the way home just to wait for him to pee and then drag both of us all the way back out to drop it off. Target was less than 10 minutes from the doctor's office so we went for an impromptu shopping trip instead. We wandered around the store for a while making unnecessary purchases: 2 blanket sleepers, a pair of baby shoes, several packs of baby food. (All clearance items, so I didn't go too overboard.) Checked out, then I brought John into the bathroom to check his diaper/pee-pee bag. Still nothing. Well, I told him, we are not leaving this store until you pee, so you better get to it. At that point it was probably close to 2, past lunch time for both of us, so I opted to try out the Pizza Hut Express in the front of the store. (Have I mentioned yet that when I first left the house 4 hours ago, I opted not to lug the whole diaper bag, figuring I wasn't going to need the works just for a doctor appointment. I had a clean diaper and some wipes in my purse, which should have been enough for a quick jaunt to the doctor. I have learned.) So I had a personal pan pizza and breadsticks, and John got to have one of the jars of baby food that I'd just bought, which I fed him from a disposable plastic adult-size spoon, and with no bib. Luckily he's pretty good, but there was definitely food down the front of his sleeper and snowsuit. Lovely. (I always put him in a sleeper to go to the doctor because it's easy to get him in and out of). Also, another sidenote, if you're ever thinking of eating at the Pizza Hut Express in Target, I do not recommend it. Blech. At least it was cheap.
After lunch we went back into the bathroom and finally -- the bag was full. I transferred it into the specimen cup, cleaned him up, and put his diaper back on. (I guess one thing that did work out for us is that even though I only had the one diaper, it was still clean.) So I loaded us and our purchases into the car, headed back to the doctor's office, dropped off the pee (the secretary seemed a bit surprised and none too thrilled when I handed it to her), and finally went home. Little man took no naps (he's been getting 2 a day lately), Joe was gone with various duties for most of the evening... that was a long day.
The doctor had called and left a message by the time we got home, saying that John did not in fact have a urinary tract infection. Which is a good thing, but after 2 days of mysteriously high fever, a doctor's appointment that found nothing wrong, followed by 3 hours of waiting for him to pee, collecting and delivering said pee, well it did make the day seem like a bit of a waste. I vented some frustration to my Molly friend that evening, who told me to watch for a rash because it might be roseola.
And I'm sure you can guess the rest of the story: next morning, John had a nice red rash on his tummy and back. Roseola, a pretty harmless virus typified by 2-3 days of very high fever followed by a rash after the fever breaks. I called the doctor (again) to let her know what was going on and see if we needed to go back in (crossing my fingers that we wouldn't). And here is why I love our doctor: she said no, she trusted my judgment that it was roseola, and thanked me for letting her know because she'd had other patients with seemingly unexplained high fevers.
Anyway, thankfully that illness was pretty tame, and the little guy is fine now. We're getting into a pretty good rhythm around here. He's been getting 2 naps a day, which means for now I have more free time than I know what to do with. I've been watching movies, not blogging (obviously), and doing lots of knitting (and un-knitting), am almost done with a baby-sized scarf which is doubling as a sampler of sorts, where I've been experimenting with some stitches and patterns. It's been fun and I am looking forward to picking out some pretty new yarns and playing.
John helps me change the laundry over most days. He has to wear his little shoes to walk outside the apartment, which doesn't seem to bother him. He carries my keys down the hall and loves to step up the stairs to go to the laundry room. After we do the laundry, he leads me around the common area. The windows in there are just at his level, so he pulls on the cranks and bangs on the screens, and we check the progress of the new building that's going up just outside. (And he tries to lead me back over to the stairs several more times, but unlike him I don't find it particularly fun. :P) Mostly he's still toddling around holding on with one hand, but he does let go for a few steps now and then.
At home I'm noticing John is less interested in playing with his toys and seems to gravitate toward non-toys: the coasters, my bookmarks, pieces of paper, hair bands, cat toys, whatever he can reach. He likes to empty shelves and make a huge mess of his books. He's also starting to show an actual interest in the books (besides making a mess of them) and will pick one up and bring it to me, and point to the pictures while we read. His current favorites seem to be Pat the Bunny and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. He'll throw a ball (still working on that one, no aim as of yet!) and Joe is also teaching him to "protect the ball". He loves to "feed" us by sticking things in our mouths. He talks all the time and sometimes you swear he's saying words: "doos" when picking up a shoe, "ess" when asked if he wants more. We noticed last week that he has a new expression too: he'll smile and then crinkle up his eyes and face on purpose. It's too cute.
I guess that's about all the news around here. I think I'm needed. ;)