13th Month Update : Viral Fever

(My sweet darling!)

STATS
Weight : 9.25kg
Height : Approx 73cm
(25th percentile - British Standard)

Just a day shy of her turning 13 Months Old (23 Jul), she woke up at 4am with fever. Her body was very warm to my touch and I took her temperature immediately - 38.5c. I woke up, gave her some water to drink which she took willingly. I fed her some paracetamol and put a cold towel on her forehead to cool her down. I did that for a good half hour and she went to bed with quite abit of fuss.

(23 Jul afternoon)

In the morning, I called up the GP (General Practitioner) and one of them spoke to me and asked me to come in should the fever not come down. At 430pm, I brought her along to see him (Dr Bat aka Dr Quack as he is the only one on duty) - he says it is most likely a viral fever but to continue monitoring her. And if the fever still remains high, to visit him on Fri morning. Her temperature fluctuated the next 2 days, usually getting worse in the evenings and night. During the day, it actually came down to normal (36.5c to 37.3c). Nights, night time is the worst. When her temperature soars, she will become very clingy and whiny - the consolation, I tell myself is that at least she is displaying her discomfort so I can tell she isn't feeling too well. The past 2 nights, I have been waking up every 2 or 3 hours to take her temperature (she will wake up anyway), and I will also feed her with either Ibuprofen or Paracetamol (with Diphenhydramine - an antihistamine) to stabilise her temperature.

To cool down her temperature, I did the following :
> Alternate between Ibuprofen and Paracetamol (with Diphenhydramine) every 5 or 6 hours according to the respective dosage. (taking into account her body weight)
> Gave her showers 3 or 4 times a day. Luckily she likes it!
> Dress her lightly (or even without a top, as it was very warm yesterday).
> Put wet towel on her forehead.

(Cooling down her body temperature)

(Today, not as hot as yesterday, so she wears a light dress)

This morning, her temperature went up to 39.3c (HIGH) and I again gave her Ibuprofen. I called the surgery again and went in to see a GP (this time I got who i wanted, I really like this GP) eventhough by then her temperature went back to normal (36.5c). The GP checked Shean Wenn and found that she had bad throat infection and that may be the cause of her fever, but she thinks it could be viral as well. Since it is a Friday, she precribed us an anti-biotic and told me to monitor her for the next 24 hours before giving it to her. If the fever subsided and does not peak up, I do not need to give her the anti-biotics anyway.

I noticed in the afternoon that she had some minor pink spots on her body. My friends Michelle and Mrs Chip-Pea told me it could be just viral rashes, or the Roseola (both common in children). Anyway, the spots did not persist for long, by evening it has subsided quite abit.

We will still continue to monitor her. At least now that the hubs is back (he flies off for business during the weekdays and comes back during weekends, for the past FOUR WEEKS), he can help me with the night duties. Although of course, we pray she gets better soon.

For me, the worse is the erratic meal time - I woke up this morning with minor gastric pain. And of course, my internet time has also been cut back to 20% from the usual. :(