A Scare

Late last night, Tate woke up crying and my motherly instinct told me something was wrong. I was right. I went into his room immediately and as soon as I touched him, I knew he had a high fever. We took his temperature and it was 104 degrees. I gave him Tylenol and rocked him. He didn't sleep more than a 1/2 hour at a time and he was crying the majority of the night. I could not get his fever down under about 102.5. I stayed up with him all night in my arms and first thing in the morning, I called his doctor. I took him in and his doctor did all kinds of checking and found nothing besides the fact that he had a temperature of 104 still. So, he decided to do some blood work. The blood work showed that his white blood count was 30,000, way too high. This worried our doctor, so he sent us to the emergency room at Blank Children's hospital where they could test Tate further. Needless to say, I was A MESS! I was SO scared! I was afraid of what they were going to say was wrong with him. Sean met me at the emergency room where they were expecting us. We immediately got in and they catheterized (sp?) him for a urine sample and took more blood and did a chest x-ray. His blood came back with the same results as at the doctor's office, his urine was fine and then we just waited for his chest x-ray. They told us that if his chest x-ray came back fine that a spinal tap could be the next step. I was so scared. I never thought that I would ever pray that Tate's chest x-rays would come back showing that he had pneumonia, but that's what I was praying while waiting in the emergency room. I knew that that would be a better scenario than meningitis or something like that. We were so relieved that the chest x-ray came back showing that Tate has pneumonia. They decided not to admit him and sent us home with an antibiotic. It was a scary day and makes me thank God for his many blessings! I am so happy to be able to have such a beautiful, healthy boy! Even though, he was poked and prodded at, held down, catheterized, stuck with needles, and dressed and undressed, he still managed to squeeze in a few smiles. He is amazing! I love him so much and this situation has really put things into perspective for me. The thought of something being seriously wrong with him made me more scared than I have ever been in my life. I am exhausted from no sleep, I am worn out from stress, but I will gladly hold this perfect little child in my arms all night long if I have to and not blink an eye. I will cherish every moment with Tate no matter how tired and worn out I am because he can be taken away from me in the blink of an eye. We are so glad tonight that he is healthy and that nothing too serious is wrong with him!

The picture above was taken after I knew that nothing was seriously wrong with him. I happened to have my camera in my purse and wanted to document Tate's first (and hopefully last!) emergency room visit. I know it seems crazy that I would be thinking of taking a picture in a moment like that, so I just wanted to clarify that when I took this picture, I knew he was fine and nothing life threatening was wrong.

And for those of you who have been around him lately, I asked the doctor, and she said that he's not contagious...so don't worry! :)