T'was a Long, Sleepless Nighta

Johan is sick. He has the fever since yesterday afternoon after we got him vaccinated with the DPT 1 and OPV 1 vaccines in the morning. I had him take a paracetamol drop right after we got home after he got his vaccines as a preventive maintenance for the expected fever.

He wasn't hot when I left him around two in the afternoon to meet my father at a nearby mall to get the shirts we are going to wear on the 25th and the pasalubong of my sister RK from Cebu. I got home around six in the evening (no thanks to the horrendous traffic that the usual 30 minute ride turned into an hour and a half). When I went inside the house, hubby just got up from his nap, Johan awake but lying in his carseat on the floor. I played with him a little until he became irritated and I scooped him up so I could carry him. That's when I felt how hot he was. I immediately went in our room, got the thermometer and took his temperature. It read 38.4 degrees! It was pretty high and I was angry at hubby for being clueless that our son already has the fever and I was also irritated that Johan was left in the living room by himself. It does not make it better when they told me Johan is sleeping anyway when they left him. You do not leave a sleeping 2-month old infant alone in a carseat on the floor with a high fever. You just don't. It made me even angrier when I was told that it was already felt Johan is a bit hot before I arrived but they did nothing, not even a sponge bath, not even taking the temperature.

They said I overreacted and it is just normal for infants to have a fever after being vaccinated. Norm or not, it's a 38.4 degree fever nearly 39 degrees where most infants will have convulsions. And anyway, there isn't anything overreative about that. You just don't take anything in stride when it comes to your child and you are a mom. It is better to be safe than sorry.

Johan is doing better after I gave him numerous sponge baths and made him take his medicine in a 4-hour interval. He does not want to be put down last night so I carried him most of the times and was only able to put him to sleep earlier around six in the morning after nursing him. I took his temperature and it was down to 37.4 degrees finally.

It was a long, sleepless night but I am feeling better now knowing that my son is well.