OK last night on Facebook, I posted that Jake had another cold, that I was pissed, and I was buying him a bubble. I posted that early in the evening. At the time I wrote that, it really did seem like just a cold. Jake’s had colds before. He gets a little feverish and his nose runs. So, Mama nurses him a lot, he sleeps it off, DONE! 

Jake laid down at his usual bedtime, around 6:30pm. He was a little warm, but nothing worse than we’ve witnessed in the past. Although, his nose was now pouring, and he was definitely restless and fitful. He just seemed…off. Mama J knocked him out with the Magic Booby, and we hoped he’d sleep it off. Jake always sleeps like a teenager when he’s not feeling well. Boy, were we wrong!

Jake awoke at 11:30pm SCREAMING unlike anything we’ve heard since he was first born! He felt like he was on fire! I couldn’t believe that even his hands felt like they were burning up. We checked his temp with a digital thermometer…105 degrees! Mama called the Doctor while I started packing his bag.

Let me say, that we are not parents who are quick to rush Jake to the Doctor every time he coughs. He’s never even had infant’s Tylenol to this point. But, what if our cheesy little thermometer was off by a degree or two? There was absolutely no reason to take a risk. It was time to head to the Emergency Room.

When a baby has a fever, it’s their body’s natural reaction to an infection. Their tiny systems are in overdrive trying to fight off whatever virus or infection they may have. At around a 104*, their hearts are pounding like crazy, and their breathing is short and rapid. Poor little buggers. At 105* for a prolonged period of time (and who knows how long that period is for your child?) their little systems can shut down. They can go into seizure, and a whole list of other things that I don’t even want to talk about.

The first time, and what I was hoping was the LAST time Jake was ever in the hospital!

If you’ve never been to an Emergency Room in a city at 12:30 am, you’re missing out. Let me just say that the waiting room looked like a casting call for a Rob Zombie movie. Luckily, this hospital doesn’t jack around when it comes to screaming babies, and we were in a room in no time. I wonder if they just didn’t want to listen to Jake going bat-shit? Anywho…

Over the course of the next few hours, they ran a ton of tests just to verify it wasn’t anything super-serious like whooping cough, etc. To make a reeeeeaaaalllllly long story short, Jake has an undetermined infection. Whether it’s viral or bacterial, the Doc hooked us up for either case. They let us bring him home. As I write this, Jake’s currently knocked out. We’re still watching his fever very closely. He’s been hovering around 101-102* all afternoon. If it starts trending up again, we have to start all over again.

Mama J and I have barely slept since yesterday morning. I’m not too concerned with that. I just want our little buddy back to normal. My hats off to parents who deal with things like on a weekly or even daily basis. My heart goes out to you.

Let me end this by saying: If you were, are, or even plan on being sick in the near future… stay away from my kid:)

Thank You – One Protective Daddy