A Little Feverish

This week, we've learned that taking care of a sick baby is hard work.

On Thursday, we got a call from the day care center to come pick up Nicholas because he had a bit of a fever and was not acting like himself.  When the teacher put him down for his morning nap, he screamed and cried, and as she put it, "he never cries!"  So I went to get him (Sarah had student meetings all afternoon) and as soon as I took him from the teacher, he put his head on my shoulder.

Fire alarms went off in my head.  He never snuggles.

Of course, he also looked terrible, pale, drawn.  He was totally lethargic.

When we got home, I put on some TV, and just let him sit in my lap.  After a dose of Tylenol, he fell asleep there for a nap, which he hasn't done since he was about four weeks old.

Anyway, so he has had a mild fever since Thursday, running in the range of 100-102 degrees when the medicine wears off.  So nothing good, but not so bad that the doctor wants to see him (that's at 104 degrees of four days, so if he's still feverish on Monday, in we go).  He hasn't had any other symptoms, so it's not entirely clear what's wrong, but babies get fevers, and it's the body's way of trying to deal with something that when it can't figure out what else to do.  Could be the tooth he's getting, could be a virus, could be roseola ... well, what's your guess?  It's as good as ours.

He's been doing pretty well considering.  Except for Thursday when it first hit, he's been in relatively good spirits, and as long as we manage his fever with Tylenol or Motrin, he's been playing and having a good time.  And today he was down to 98.1, though the medicine may have still been in effect, but that means it's at least working really well, and his hands felt cool instead of hot and clammy.  So maybe, maybe a little progress.

And here's hoping he'll be back to normal tomorrow so we can take him to daycare (where he'd rather be) than the doctor on Monday morning.