Ther- MOM-meter

This past week Cecily has been very sick. Here is a picture of her drinking pedialite and LAYING on the couch. This child does not sit still, and has not layed anywhere other than her bed for more than 30 seconds. Poor baby! She woke up from her nap on Monday with a fevor, but had no other sympthoms. I thought that maybe she had another ear infection (she had her first 2 weeks ago) and that her time swimming might have brought it on. As the days passed this week the fever continued and got worse. By Wednesday she was completely lathargic and spent most of the day in bed with me.

I kept checking her temperature with our ear thermometer. It kept giving temperatures in the normal range-- which I just couldn't believe! That evening I noticed that she was turning blue-- her hands, feet and around her mouth. I called the doctor and they told us to take her to urgent care and if it gets worse call 911. When we arrived to urgent care she had a 104 temp! They told us that the ear thermometers were really unreliable. (You think!)

As it turns out- Cecily most likely has a virus. The turning blue can happen at the onset of a fever, they said often times the blood will rush to the core, making the hands and feet turn blue. There is a possibility that she may have Roseola-- the only way to know for sure is after her fever is gone if she breaks out in a whole body rash. Time will tell. Most children have Roseola before they are 5 (some say 3). There isn't really anything to do except let it run it's course. Fortunately the body rash does not itch.

By Friday- today- she was finally feeling a bit better! She still had a bit of a fever but she was up and playing! It's good to have our little girl back running around and smiling!

As for thermometers-- Here is the run down. We seem to have gone through the gauntlet of thermometers! The Urgent Care Doctor said that the best thermometer is a digital one and the best reads come from under the arm or rectal.

We started out with a digital one that came with a new baby kit-- it was so cheap and slow that I could never get it to work. We tried the Binky thermometer with out much success. Next came the ear thermometer and it proved unreliable. So I bought a Vicks brand thermometer-- that has a color coded back light-- easy to read in the dark-- which we found to be very important. So far this has worked for us! But the moral of the story is-- the best thermometer is a Mom-- once again woman triumphs over machine!