Near Miss

Last Tuesday, the morning after Elise's ER visit, Clark developed another fever. I couldn't believe it. I called Husband to come home and stay with Elise, I called the doctor's office and they told me to come in right away, and while I waited for Husband's arrival I packed a suitcase for the hospital. Since Clark was still under 2 months old, I was pretty sure we'd have to be admitted to the hospital again. I assumed I was going straight from the doctor's office to the hospital, like the last time Clark had a fever.

When Husband got home I cried. Told him how I don't want to watch the nurses and doctors poke and pull at Clark again (during his last stay the nurses took over an hour to make 4 attempts at inserting an IV before they finally gave up-- it was awful, AWFUL). Then I packed up the car and went to Clark's doctor's office.

By the time we got there, Clark's fever was down from 100.9 to 100.3. The doctor looked in his ears during the exam. Ear infection! I was happy there was an obvious reason for Clark's fever, but I thought I'd still have to go to the hospital for at least one day of observation.

Fortunately for us, my doctor recently cared for another baby that was only 1 month old and had RSV. A few weeks after the baby got over the RSV, he developed a fever and an ear infection. The ear infection was related to the RSV. They treated the ear infection an the baby was A-OK; there were no other underlying problems. So my doctor said that we could make a follow up appointment for the next day and in the meanwhile he was sending me home with some antibiotics. If the fever comes down and Clark is doing okay the next day, no hospital. Clark looked perfectly healthy except for the ear infection and his oxygen levels were great, so the doctor felt okay taking a small risk in believing that the ear infection was what was causing Clark's fever.

I was elated.

By 2am that night, Clark's fever was gone. Whew! Close one! I can't believe that we almost went to the hospital for a 3rd time before Clark was even 2 months old!