Poor Kid :(

Jonathan had his first fever on Tuesday night. Matt had him that night and he was particularly fussy, so he handed him over to me and Matt took Bryan (Yes, they're still sleeping with us and yes, we know how dangerous this is). One kiss to the forehead let me know that something wasn't right, so I checked his temp. which was 103.4. Yikes for a new mom, but apparently that's considered mid-grade. After about an hour of soothing "shhh's" and rocking in the glider, I got him to calm down and I took his temp again which was 102. The next morning, I took him to the pediatrician and they suggested that we take additional steps to make sure that the fever isn't a result of something more serious. What was I going to say, NO? He didn't have any ear problems and his nose was relatively clear. So we headed straight to the hospital where he had his hernia surgery just three weeks ago.
His first test was an X-ray to make sure he doesn't have pneumonia. I swear, that device they had him in was pure torture. They kept on telling me that it looks worse than it really is, but Jonathan's tears told me otherwise. Picture a wooden board with a hole cut out for the legs and bum, then two clear plastic tall semi-circles are squeezed on either of his sides with his arms stretched above his head. He is stuck in this thing for about five minutes until they can get two x-rays. I was in too much shock to cry at this point.
We were whisked away to the next test - blood work. It's well known in the medical world (not to me) that baby's veins are very small. There was one nurse to hold him down and one to prick his arm about four times until they finally found a vein that would give them enough blood. There were many comments on how nicely developed his lungs were. Duh! After that, she gave him a heel prick and squeezed blood out for a blood culture. He still has a small bruise on his arm, but I suspect that it will go away in a few days. They gave us a few minutes to calm down, then we were whisked away again to the next test.
The next test was to find out if he has a urine infection. To do this and obtain a sterile sample, they needed to catheterize him - without anesthesia. For this, I cried. They brought us up to the pediatric floor and took Jonathan's vitals. I was given the option to let a student from Elgin Community College or a Dr. from the floor do the procedure. I'm an advocate of having Dr's learn hands-on (how else are they going to learn), but I'm not that trusting with my 3 month old baby. Well, after a minute of arguing between the devil on my left shoulder and the angel on my right shoulder, I decided to go ahead and let the student do it with the stipulation that I could say no at any moment of the procedure. I was most worried about this test because I knew ahead of time how painful that it would be for him. I had a catheter when I was in labor, but I had an epidural for the pain. Armed with the knowledge that he wouldn't remember any of it in the future, I gave him lots of kisses and a great big hug then layed him down. There were three Dr's in training and one teacher. She had a shaky hand for a couple of minutes, but she was super-concentrated on remaining sterile and ultimately did a great job. Jonathan was awesome! He cried for the initial insertion of the tube, but he calmed down after that.
That was the final test and I couldn't wait to get out of there! What a nightmare! All in all, the hospital staff was great and everyone was concerned and helpful, but I wouldn't mind it if I never step foot in there again. Preliminary results show that Jonathan is fighting something (his white blood count is elevated), but we don't know what. The x-ray came back clear and so did the initial results on the urine. I'm waiting to hear back from the Pediatrician for the remaining results tonight. I'm guessing it's just viral. Cross your fingers Bryan doesn't get it!