Yesterday, Charlotte began running a fever. Doesn't sound like a big deal, but when she and Jensen had strep, the doctor told me to be sure to call if their temp was ever over 100.3, because a fever in babies so small can be dangerous. So of course I immediately called the doctor's office. It was 12:01 and I reached an answering service. All the very helpful lady could tell me was to call back at 1:00 when the doctors were back from lunch. Awesome. I debated taking her to the emergency room, but Brian (who was home from lunch after I called him and told him to HURRY) managed to talk some sense into me and we gave her some Tylenol and waited for 1:00.
When 1:00 rolled around, we were in the parking lot of the doctor's office on the phone with them begging to have a doctor, any doctor, see Charlotte. (Yes, I told them we were in the parking lot. Yes, Charlotte's chart probably now has "Crazy Mom" written in large red letters.) But, they got us in and began to run some tests. First was another strep test. Fortunately that one was negative. Next, they tested for a urinary tract infection. This test involved getting a urine sample--but you can't exactly make a baby pee in a cup, so they had to insert a catheter. Charlotte cried and I barely managed not to.
The results...positive for a UTI. Our poor little baby--those things hurt! I felt terrible for her. And I felt even worse when she had to get two shots of antibiotic, one in each sweet little chubby thigh. Charlotte cried. I cried. Charlotte stopped crying. I kept crying. The doctor began to go over possible reasons why a baby so small would get a UTI, and when he said that one of them is that she may have something structurally wrong with her bladder or kidneys, a light bulb went off in my head and I remembered that I have something structurally wrong that makes me more prone to getting UTIs. So of course I now feel horrible. I was so busy worrying about my kids inheriting my short legs or tendency to over-analyze that I didn't even think about something like that.
So she is now on antibiotics for the second time in her short life and the doctor says that once she's finished with those, the next step is to get her scheduled for an ultrasound to check out her bladder and kidneys. I hate that she has to go through all this and just want to make it all go away for her. For now I am just going to keep hoping that this was a fluke thing and that one of these days we will all be healthy around here.
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Oh crud Marcy..I'm so sorry. Now this is probably a very minor thing and DO NOT worry about things ahead of time.
ReplyDeleteBTW...You are correct, there is a notation in your chart now. You know how all that works, we do plenty of it to library patrons that have "issues"
Oh, poor baby!! (You and her!) All I can think of to say is Welcome to being a mommy! It's always something (not to discourage you...) but it does seem like there is always something to worry about with kiddos!! Addyson had to see a urologist (they thought she had something refluxing in her kidney's, turned out she did not) but I know several little baby girls who have had that and it's just one of those things. Or, this could be a fluke and she'll be fine. Hey- at least she is not contagious so you don't have to worry about Jensen getting it!!
ReplyDeleteOh, and don't worry, I am totally one of those moms too. They probably have me programmed in to the "emergency cell phone" that I sometimes call after hours! I would have done the same thing. What was her temp by the way? Poor thing! Sorry you are having to deal with this!
Marcy, Camryn got a UTI when she was about 7 months old--I feel your pain completely and totally on the catheter--but hers didn't work! So they had to do a blood test--I won't even go into that trauma (on Mommy). She did indeed have something structurally wrong with her kidneys. We did sonograms for about a year every few months--and look at her now! I'm sure it's very minor like my girl. She'll be find--and you will too! :) Holler if you need anything!
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