Fever Shmeever

When Gema was 23 days old, she contracted a virus

that landed her in the hospital. She had a fever of 38 degrees (which is quite serious in a newborn) and was extra fussy. I took her to emergency late one night and they rushed her in to see a doctor. There's a whole bunch of routine tests they have to do when such a young baby gets a fever. No pick and choose, no opting out. And let me tell ya, the list of tests is quite extensive, I don't even know half of the things they were looking for. First off, they took her temperature, confirmed she had a fever (all temperatures taken were done rectally. Um, not so fun), popped her on a scale and then put her half-naked on a giant bed in the FREEZING cold ER. I think they must have had the door open. Little Gem looked so tiny on that big bed with 3 doctors and 2 nurses hovering over her. I wanted to hold her and help her calm down. She was so upset, just screaming blue murder. Didn't help that it was so cold, and she was probably starving hungry too. All I could do was help her keep a soother in her mouth. It took about 4 hours to get all the samples taken and if you know Gema, she can hardly go an hour without nursing. Poor little Miss.

They then proceeded to take a blood sample, insert a catheter to take a urine sample, and put an IV line in to pump her up with fluids since she was dehydrated from the fever. And then the worst part: they had to do a lumbar puncture. In other words, a spinal tap. Which means that they stick a needle between the vertebrae on her low back and draw fluid out, the same spot where they would give a labouring pregnant woman an epidural. On my baby! AH! I couldn't believe it. But that's the only way to test for meningitis, so they had to do it. One of the doctors there was a resident and no offense to him, he looked like he would be a good doctor, but he was not so good at doing a spinal tap. There was blood everywhere and he couldn't get the fluid to come out. It was a mess. So the senior doctor stepped in and she did it in about 5 minutes, with no blood. Wish they could have just done that the first time around.

By then it was 2 or 3 in the morning. Gema was exhausted and actually slept through most of the spinal tap procedure. But once we got to our room in the pediatric ward, there was no way I was going to sleep. I just couldn't help but stare at my poor little helpless baby surrounded by wires and cords and IVs and who-knows-what. I can't imagine what parents go through when it's actually something serious. Yikes.

So after 4 days of checking her vitals every 4 hours, administering antibiotics and waiting waiting waiting for test results to come back from the lab, we were given the OK to go home. Thank goodness all the tests came back negative. Gema's fever abated and her vitals stabilized. I still can't believe all this actually happened. We've been home for a few weeks now and she's as happy as can be, with no recurring fever.

Jacob visiting us at the hospital. Is it morbid that I think he's so cute in his little hospital gown?

Gema got sick the weekend we were supposed to bless her, and bless their hearts, Jay's family and my parents still came even though we were stuck in the hospital. The photo above is Grampa Ricky holding little Gem. It was so nice to have them all here. It definitely helps to have such a big support system.

Just about ready to go home!

I don't think I've ever prayed so much in my life. I am so glad and thankful that Gema is home safe and sound and that nothing was seriously wrong. I know that the Lord hears our prayers. And even though it may seem at times that our prayers go unanswered, I know that he answers each and every one of his children's prayers, just not always in the way we would like. Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts for Gema. I'm sure that's what helped her recover so quickly.