Burn Baby, Burn

Poor Charlotte has been sick.

When I picked Charlotte up from daycare on Thursday, Miss Linda reported that Charlotte had not been feeling well that day. She was sleeping more than usual and eating less. I was surprised because although Charlotte had had a slight cold the previous weekend, she seemed to be over it. Sure enough, that night I noticed that Charlotte had absolutely no energy. Usually, you can't turn around without her having rolled or creeped somewhere, but here she was, lying down on her stomach with barely enough energy to lift her head.

The next morning it was apparent from her red-hot skin that she had a fever. Chris took her temperature, which first registered 100 degrees and then 102.5 as the day wore on. When it was only 100 degrees, Chris called Linda to see if Charlotte could still go to daycare. Nope, anything above 99 point something warrants staying home. I called the advice nurse when it rose over 102, who, after hearing Charlotte's symptoms stated that a fever was not a bad thing. In fact, a fever meant that Charlotte's immunization system had kicked into gear and was trying to cook that virus out. Infant Tylenol seemed to work and Charlotte would start having more interest in toys, but then it would wear off and her energy level would plummet.

On Saturday, she seemed much better. Her fever had broken, she was all smiley, and we were hopeful the worst was over. Unfortunately, on Sunday afternoon Charlotte's fever came back with a vengeance. Charlotte was coughing a lot and after each series of coughs, she would whimper, presumably because it hurt so much to cough. She resumed lying on the floor with her head turned to her side. Chris went snowboarding on Sunday, but luckily our friend Angela came over to keep me company. This was a relief because the traffic was so bad that they didn't get back from the mountains until almost 9 o'clock.

Monday morning wasn't much better. Charlotte still had a fever of 102, but suddenly her breathing seemed rapid and raspy. I put another call into the advice nurse, who had me count Charlotte's breaths while she kept time. She told me I could A) wait until an 11:10 appointment with Charlotte's pediatrician or B) head to the emergency room if I thought things were getting bad. I decided for the former, at first. I took Charlotte into the bathroom and attempted to steam the snot out of her. She seemed to be nursing okay, but very listless. After the steam bath, I brought her into the computer room, where she lay on me, half-sleeping. But her breathing seemed really fast and inconsistent. I got worried. What I really wanted was an appointment with another pediatrician (any one!), but there were none available. So we quickly got dressed, put Charlotte in the car seat and off we went to the South Sacramento Kaiser hospital. I called the advice nurse yet again to see if another appointment was available, he listened to her symptoms again, conferred with an emergency room doctor, and advised us to take Charlotte into the emergency room.

Now, I work in health policy and know that the ER is the most expensive form of health care, so I really just wanted to get an earlier appointment with any doctor. But no, we went to the ER. We waited in the waiting room for about ten minutes, were called into the triage room, where they took her vitals. Temp still 102 and heartrate 155 (that's normal for a baby in the womb, but on the outside? I don't know! Seemed really high to me). Then they placed us in a room. Charlotte was upset and whimpering, and it seemed like forever until the ER doctor came in. His name seemed familiar, and I was pretty sure he ran against the incumbent congressman in California's third district in 2008, so after he checked out her breathing and ears, I pulled out the iPhone. Yep, I was right. He did run against the incumbent (obviously, I'm not listing their names here so as not to make Googling this page easy). Why would I even know this, you ask? Because he used to show up at anti-war rallies at my former employer. I've always said Sacramento is a small town.

Anyway, the ER doctor decided to order a chest x ray to rule out pneumonia. Poor Charlotte had to be strapped into what I can only describe as a medieval torture device. A plastic tube is cinched around her chest and her arms have to be over her head. I had to hold her hands up, while she cried and whimpered. The rationale is that it's the only way to get a quick, clear x ray of a baby, who generally never stops moving her arms.

Here's a picture I found to demonstrate:


The doctor didn't see any sign of pneumonia on the x ray, so we were discharged. Of course, by the time we left the ER, it was almost time for her appointment with her regular doctor. We went home and Charlotte proceeded to sleep for four hours straight. Although her cough still sounds horrible and causes her to cry, she's feeling much better and is back at daycare. I know we probably were those typical hysterical parents, but the advice nurses fueled our anxiety, and I've never seen Charlotte so listless. In any case, having the chest x ray did help ease our worries some.

Oh, and the one upside of Charlotte being sick? I got to cuddle with my baby more than usual. She normally never stops wriggling and squirming, so it was kind of nice to just have her lying on my chest, sleeping.