Wednesday, September 12, 2007

A Trip to the ER


I had my first ever trip to the ER last night. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Baby Jer had a high fever (105) that wasn't responding well to Motrin and it was just about the time our clinic was closing. We called a few nurses and the most knowledgeable about children said to take him in, especially since it's free for us since our state has a health care program for kids under a certain income level. So, we took the little guy in and it turns out that he was only a tad dehydrated and didn't need an IV. They gave us some advice on keeping his fever down (Motrin, then 3 hours later, Tylenol, then 3 hours later Motrin again) and gave me a tip on how to tell if he's really dehydrated. He had about 3, half-wet diapers yesterday with dark-colored urine. They said they don't usually worry unless it's only one wet diaper in a 24 hour period. So even though he was lethargic, not eating, and not drinking much except breastmilk, he was okay. I mention these things in case any of you moms reading this have to deal with high fevers in the future and need some tips on how to get them down and save yourself a trip to the ER!

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