A Mom’s Nightmare

Last Friday, I received a text message from my sister telling me that my baby is sick. A few minutes before that, my boss told me that the supposed to be one-hour meeting will be extended to two hours, so that means I wouldn’t be able to go home immediately. As he always waits for me after work, I told my husband to go home ahead of me to check on our baby girl. He called me as soon as he got home to inform me that Zaira is fine, so as not to worry me.
She was her usual bubbly self when I got home. The following day though, her fever spiked again. I had her take paracetamol which brought down the fever. I had to do some errands so I left her at home with the nanny. When we got home, we noticed that her cheeks were red, and there were rashes on her legs. We immediately packed a few things and brought her to the hospital. Her temperature recorded 39.2ºC, but the rashes were gone, except for the ones on her knees. The doctor told us that it could just be an allergic reaction to what she had probably eaten. They performed a CBC and sent us home, as they diagnosed that it could just be a viral infection.

I didn’t sleep through the night. I busied myself watching the last season of Alias. Zaira’s conditioned did improve. The fever had broken. I checked on her from time to time to make sure her temperature is just within the normal range. At 8 in the morning, just when I was about to sleep, her temperature went to 40.1ºC. I woke up Aldrich because we’re supposed to get the results of the CBC. He went back to the hospital and was advised to bring our baby back to the Emergency Room so the doctor can double-check, as her WBC count is higher than normal.

By the time Aldrich went home, the fever had broken down. We waited until lunch time, but Zaira seemed normal and ok again. We went to Aldrich’s grandmother’s house, as we usually do on Sundays. His relatives advised us not to have her admitted because her fever might just be due to her teething. We stayed there for a while waiting for her fever to spike again. After dinner, we noticed a rise in her temperature, so we immediately proceeded to Chong Hua Hospital. They still couldn’t find anything wrong with her. Zaira showed no signs of illness; she seemed very active and very healthy, except for the fever and high CBC count. They performed a urinalysis, but the result showed negative infection, so they sent us home again.

I tried to reason with them that if it’s dengue, it will not be detected on the first 3 days of fever. As of Sunday, her fever was just 3 days old. The CBC was performed on a Saturday, which means, her fever was just 2 days old when the test was administered. They assured me that it’s not dengue. If they see signs of possible dengue, they would let us go home. They convinced me that it might just be viral infection, and they sent us home with instructions to closely monitor my baby.

It was such a stressful weekend for us. I took an emergency leave from work on Monday so I could closely check on Zaira. Thank God the fever totally broke down and did not come back. I’m sure moms who read this could relate to the pressure and the nervousness I felt over my baby’s sickness. We never want to take any chances, when it comes to our children’s health and safety. I think a little paranoia wouldn’t hurt, especially, when it’s our children’s health at stake.

I’m just very thankful that it was nothing more than a fever. We’ve heard of several cases of dengue around the neighborhood, and of course, we wouldn’t want that to happen to our children. It was the first time that we brought Zaira to the hospital, and we’re glad that it didn’t have to reach admission. As always, it is very important to take precautionary measures. When it comes to our children’s health, our motto is always, “better safe than sorry”.

Missing Work

I've been absent for two days from work. Initially, because my daughter was sick. She had fever, cough and colds and that I couldn't just leave the tending to the nanny. On the afternoon of that day, I also got asthma attack. Maybe it was due to stress and fatigue from taking care of my baby girl, as she wants to be carried the whole time, and she is already very heavy.

I went to the doctor yesterday as per my hubby's insistence. The doctor advised that I should be on bedrest so I can totally recover. She gave me antibiotics and medical certificate to justify my absences. I told her I couldn't miss work for another day as I already have a lot of things to do piled up in the office. She inssisted that I take another day to rest, but her insistence, as well as my hubby's pleas fell on deaf ears, because here I am today.

I am feeling surprisingly better now that I'm already in the office. The past two days, I felt so tired, a simple chore as chewing my food would wear me out. Now that I'm here, I still feel running out of breath from time to time, but I feel more energized, which scares me as I may already showing signs of workaholicism. The whole time that I was home, I kept thinking about my evaluations and the agents, and all the other important updates that I may have missed.

I pray to God that I will not reach a point that I will feel more alive in the office than in my home. I pray to God that I will still be able to prioritize my health over my work. The doctor was right when she said "Health is more important than your work"...I always knew she was right, but I still can't help thinking of the many evaluations that I need to do and to catch up on if I miss another day at work. And so here I am....feeling a little better....but a little scared of how things are turning out for me....