So my rainbow, Rosabella, has her first real fever. She is 17 months old and has no other symptoms of illness. We have been in contact with her pediatricians office, but she has not been seen yet. It is hard for so many reasons, but mostly since during the day when I am gone she has a low grade to no fever, but at night it goes really high. Last night it was 103.6, tonight I checked her at 11:45 and it was 104.9. My DH is going to take her to the doctor tomorrow regardless, because as hard as I am trying to stay calm I need some reassurance. I know that kids get fevers, kids get sick, but through this community I also know kids who have died and I am so scared. I don't want her to be afraid of the world because her sister died, but it is so hard.

Grace's Mom, I know how you feel, and I hope you'll get the reassurance you need from the pediatrician.

Terribly scary! We've had teething and vaccine fevers but nothing serious. I can't imagine how I will feel. I will be thinking of you and am so glad that you can get her in to the pediatrician. Extremely most likely thing is that it's just a little virus working it's way through. Keeping her hydrated should help...as will Motrin. If it's not responding to Motrin, then I would be inclined to hit the ER when it's that high. Poor baby girl. Hope she feels better soon!!

Philip has had a fever a few times already, tough every time! For one, I hate to see him miserable, but also - there is that underlying irrational terror that I can onlys ascribe to the trauma we've been through. But it does get a little easier every time.

Having said that, 104.9 would totally freak me out. I probably would have gone to the ER or paged our pediatrician. How is Rosabella today? How many days has she had the fever? My (googled) rule of thumb is if it lasts more than 72 hours - go to doctor! Also, if higher than 103.5 (his highest has been 103). Btw, Philip recently had roseola and hand foot and mouth disease a couple of months ago - both started with high fever/no other symptoms until the rash popped up a couple of days later... so be on the lookout for that. Neither is dangerous.

One other thing - make sure you're giving her the right amount of tylenol for her weight. Also, I give P ibuprofen before going to bed because it lasts a bit longer (6+ hours as opposed to 4-5). Definitely give lots of fluids (P almost never eats solids when sick but drinks milk), maybe even wake up at night to give milk and medicine...? I let him sleep but when he wakes up by himself in the middle of the night is when he usually has the highest fever.

Anyways, just wanted to let you know I understand your fears and how rough this is... But you'll get through it. Hope Rosabella feels better soon! Poor baby...

xoxo
Mira

I've been there several times. It's horrifying now. For a fever that high it's certainly reasonable to page the on call and/or just get checked at the ER. Since ethan's death we have had multiple serious asthma attacks and one 105 fever. I stayed up all night watching her and did take her in. Turned out to be the flu that time - something very normal yet alarming nonetheless. Especially for those of us who've lived through terrible luck.

Hope she feels better asap. That your pediatrician can provide reassurance tomorrow and that this subsides for you all.

Thanks everyone, it has been such a hard week. My DH took her in to the pediatrician and they could not find anything wrong with her, so likely a virus. They were thinking Roseola. Then Wednesday night her fever seemed to have broken and her temp was 98.2 at 11 pm, so we did not give her any Tylenol, then at 3:30 am I woke up and she had turned on her crib aquarium. I went to check on her and she was burning up. The forehead thermometer read 105.4! I took off her pajamas, wiped her with a cool cloth, gave her Tylenol and took her temperature rectally while we called the on call nurse. I got her temp down to 104.2, then 103.8. The nurse told us that we could take her to the ER, but since we had just been seen we did not have to, she recommended giving anti-fever medication every 4 hours at night regardless of her temperature and discussed alternating Tylenol and Ibuprofen. That was what we did Thursday night and then Friday she did not need anything. Then tonight 100.5 at bedtime. Ugh. I am so ready to be done with all this and have my baby healthy again.

Thank you all so much for your kind words and support, it means so much to be understood and know that there are people out there rooting for my little family!

So scary! I'm thinking of you all and hoping that Rosabella is feeling better very soon! Much love to you all.