Steph and Mike McDowell’s Blog

London had a pretty good fever this past week. On Wednesday, I got a phone call from our daycare saying that London had a fever. I left work and picked him up. When I arrived, his face and cheeks were very red and he was hot to the touch. I took him in to see the doctor right away. He had a temperature of 103.5! Pretty hot for a 4-month-old baby.

We went through all sorts of tests. Checked for the standard stuff like ear infections, flu, etc. In fact, our doctor said that he wished the tests would have been positive for flu – since then we could treat it – and it would mean that the fever wasn’t caused by something more serious like an infection (urinary tract, sepsis, etc.). So, since we couldn’t conclude what was causing the fever, we headed off to get blood and urine tests. London did not appreciate all the poking and prodding he had to endure. He got his nose swabbed for a 5-count, a catheter, and then blood drawn from each arm. The blood tests came back pretty “benign.” He had an elevated white blood cell count, but that was expected since he’s been fighting off a cold for a while now. They weren’t too concerned about that.

So, fast forward to today: London’s fever has gone away. He is not being as fussy, and is generally in good spirits. He’s still having a hard time sleeping through the night, typically waking up every couple of hours in a screaming fit. Needless to say, Steph and I are very tired. We are now simply awaiting any word back from the doctor to see if the blood tests/cultures are going to yield any answers as to why London got so sick. The reason may be a bit moot at this stage since London’s feeling better, but we’d still like to know what was going on.