Fever in the House

Jader has been cranky the past couple of days. I assumed she is teething, and is trying to cut her top left canine (cuspid). She has been chewing on her fingers, has little appetite, and has been night waking. She also wants to nurse a lot more.

Last night, she started fevering. She's had a low grade fever for the past twelve hours, then it spiked to a high grade fever. She hasn't been red, moist, or lethargic. Just a little uncomfortable. And mostly lying still and sleeping. She doesn't show any other symptoms. I believe it is a teething fever, but it just breaks my heart to see her in pain.

I held her all night and she was just a ball of hotness. I didn't even need covers because she was keeping me warm enough. Poor thing.

Whenever she is sick, I feel like my priorities in life are put into perspective. I channel all of my energy into getting her well again. I am so used to a spunky, vivacious child, so when she is sick, it is difficult for all of us.

Thankfully her fever has gone down, with the help of fever reducers. I was treating her homeopathically, but it just wasn't helping and I didn't want her to have any febrile seizures. I couldn't take seeing my little girl in that kind of pain.

It is difficult for me to make certain parenting decisions. Most of the time I feel comfortable about not treating her symptoms with over-the-counter drugs, but there are some instances where I feel uncertain. In the case of her fever. Her fever spiked at 103.0 today, and I felt it was necessary to administer some Ibuprofen. However, there are a lot of mothers out there that would have given their children Ibuprofen at 100 degrees, and others still that would never treat a fever.

All I know is that I don't think I could live with the guilt of anything happening to my little girl that I could have prevented. We have all heard the horror stories of children having grand mal seizures, epilepsy, or brain damage. I can't even begin to comprehend or fathom the consequences if something like this happened to my sweet baby just because I don't believe in OTC drugs.

Thankfully we all inherit a 'mother's intuition' and we can use it to make right choices for our loved ones. They depend on us to give them the best care that we can. I know I am sending all my healing love to my girl and hope and pray she gets well soon.