Going to the doctor's is... FUN!

DN is sick again. This time it started with a cough on Saturday, runny nose on Sunday and fever on Monday. A sick kid is no fun. He is extra cranky and he can't sleep well. This means we are also extra cranky and we can't sleep well.

Going to the doctor's is fun for DN because it's like a playground over there! While waiting to see Dr Keoy, DN usually busies himself with the slide and see-saw. (You can hear him say "up" in the video.)



DN never complains when he sees Dr Keoy. Dr Keoy can prod his tummy, peer into his mouth and jab his butt, and DN won't even whimper. That's because Dr Keoy ALWAYS gives him a biscuit. He's got all sorts of kiddie bribes on his table - milk biscuits, sugus sweets, stuffed toys, rattle toys... he's even got an activity table and a little scooter in a corner of the office. I wonder if there are other parents who think, "Me leh?" when Dr Keoy hands their kid a biscuit / sweet.

I hope DN gets better soon... we're flying to Perth on MONDAY!

On the mend!

DN's fever seems to have broken, yippee. :D His temperature stayed in the normal range the whole of today. He's still a bit on the lethargic side though, and is kinda clingy to PF and me. More hugs for the little one then!

Duration of fever : 4 long days, and 4 longer nights
Highest temperature : 39.9 degrees

He now has false measles which usually follows high fevers. It looks scary, but it's a good sign - the fever has run its course.

Kan Cheong Spider

DN is having a fever... again.

On Monday evening, he started feeling a little feverish and his temperature continued to climb through the night. Thank goodness we now make it a point to always have paracetamol at home. With the paracetamol, his temperature hovered between 37.8 to 38.9 degrees. I can't imagine what it would have been if we didn't have medication.

PF and I were shattered on two levels.

One - DN is sick, and that's no fun, both for him and us.

Two - He was supposed to start school at Julia Gabriel the next day! And it was water play! Alamak. First day of school already "pontang". -_-

When his fever didn't subside on Tuesday, PF brought DN to the GP who gave him some Ibuprofen. It brought his fever down, but his temperature started to climb again when the medicine wore off. At 10+ last night, DN's temperature hit 39.9 degrees!

Kan cheong spider time.

It wasn't time for his next dose of Ibuprofen, we didn't know if we could give paracetamol with Ibuprofen still in his system and we didn't know how to sponge a baby. (Do I really need a sponge???)

So I called a few friends and found out what to do.

What to do when your baby is running a fever

1. Give paracetamol if you have some on hand, if not...
2. Sponge baby by
- soaking a small towel in lukewarm (not cold) water
- place towel on baby's hot areas (neck, armpits, groin) for about 30 secs
- remove towel and rinse
- let the water evaporate off the skin (this takes away the heat)
- repeat until temperature drops
3. If after half an hour, the medicine / sponging is not taking effect, bring baby to the doctor

At about 12am, we decided to bring DN to the hospital. His fever wasn't going down and I really started to panic when he didn't wake up even after I picked him up, carried him and called his name a few times.

Kan cheong spider time again.

Thank goodness he finally stirred and waved his little hand at us. (You scared us big time, mister!) So off we went to Thomson Medical Centre - 2 kan cheong spiders and 1 hot baby. Always a bad combination.

As we approached the counter (we were still a good 5 metres away), Nurse 1 took one look at us and said, "Fever?" I think I know what she was thinking - "Alamak, why do I always get the paranoid parents during my shift?"

Nurse 1 took DN's temperature and said, "38.8 degrees. Not so bad." (Okay thanks, I'm starting to feel sheepish now.) She then called the doctor on his phone - "2 patients, Dr X (He's far from a super-hero. I'm not naming him coz I'm going to complain about him!)."

Anyway, when Dr X arrived 10 minutes later, with his supper swinging from a red plastic bag, he too looked rather sheepish (or-bee-good!). We were called in barely 4 minutes after the 1st patient and our consultation lasted only slightly longer - 4.5 minutes???

I left the room as clueless as when I went in. I didn't really know why DN's fever wouldn't go down, what was causing it and what to do if he started burning again. In fact, he even managed to make me feel bad for asking questions because of his monosyllabic answers. I bet he was thinking of his supper getting cold by the minute.

Thank goodness there was Nurse 2. When she explained to us how to administer the medicine (paracetamol & ibuprofen, both of which we already had!), she unwittingly offered extra information and answered all the questions that were swimming in my head!

What's wrong with DN?
He has viral fever, and it's a strong strain. Apparently, many children have been coming in with these long-drawn fevers that climb to the high end of 39 degrees.

When will he get better?
Not for a few more days. This particular bug has been very strong and she told us to expect DN's fever to hang around for a bit.

What should I do in the meantime?
Just give him paracetamol every 4 hours. If, an hour after paracetamol, he's still feverish, give the ibuprofen. Ibuprofen to be given only 6-8 hourly.

If his temperature goes up to 40 degrees, must we bring him to the hospital?
No. The temperature is just a number. A better indication is the child's behaviour. A child with a temperature of 39 degrees and feeling very lethargic and unresponsive should be rushed to hospital immediately. A child with a temperature of 40 degrees but is still very active needs only paracetamol.

Why is his fever so bad at night?
During the day, children are moving about so they sweat and their bodies are able to expel the heat. At night, they sleep and are inactive, so their bodies aren't able to get rid of the heat, and hence their temperatures rise. This is normal and nothing to worry about.

Am I a kan cheong spider?
(she was very diplomatic about this)
It's natural for first-time parents to get worried. They've never experienced this before and most are unsure of what to do. So we do get alot of first-time parents rushing their children to the hospital in the middle of the night and paying exhorbitant consultation fees which is not really that exhorbitant if you consider the fact that there are 3 of us here on duty tonight and what we want to do most is go back to bed.

i.e. YES!

(okay, you know that I made up that whole spiel at the back right?)

Bless Nurse 2!

Viral Fever

DN is sick... pooey.

When we put him in bed last night, he was perfectly fine. An hour later, he woke up crying. He was hot! A fever, just like that! His temperature was about 39 degrees. Thank goodness we had some paracetamol in the fridge.

We were actually supposed to attend a birthday party this afternoon. PF and I were looking forward to it for two reasons:

1. It's a KFC party and DN is now old enough to join in the games (sort of) and he'll probably win a prize or two coz he's a baby and everyone panchangs the baby!
   
2. It's a KFC party! ('nuff said. Colonel Sanders, you da man!)
   

So we missed the party coz DN has a viral infection (I think he got it from Globetrotters, grrr...) and is highly contagious. Oh well. :( So we spent the day relaxing at home, watching Bob the Builder, playing with his toys, reading books...

DN wasn't moody or grumpy at all, just hot, so nothing for us to worry about really. I found this on www.kidshealth.org...

"The illness is probably not serious if your child:

• is still interested in playing
• is eating and drinking well
• is alert and smiling at you
• has a normal skin color
• looks well when his or her temperature comes down."

Hmm, let's see... DN was still begging for crackers, fruits, fries (we had to have our KFC!)... smiling on demand... running all over the house... yes, I think he's fine!

DN hated having the fever patch on his forehead. Kept shaking his head when we tried to put it on and when it's on, he'd fling it right off and it'd go "piak" on the floor. (It's a gel pad.)


But I love the fever patch! It's got cute little penguins on it!

Birthday parties, falling sick and a shopping baby

DN received a few party invitations this month. (Can you say "party animal"?) All the wonderful hosts were so thoughtful to set aside a play area for all the little ones. There were activity tables, ball pits, bouncy zebras/horses, games and coupe cars. Yes, you heard me right, a coupe! And trust all the little boys (and their daddies, LOL) to be fighting over that one at Jovann's party.


Break it up, people! Break it up!











Birthday girl, Arianne.



















Birthday girl, Trinity.




















Birthday boy, Jovann, and his Mom & Dad.



















DN & Amabel in the ball pit...











... DN climbing up the slide...



















... and feeling up a zebra!





















Click on this picture and check out all the fancy-schmancy cakes the Sept babies had!
















The Little Tykes coupe is this little car that operates like Fred Flintstone's car. Except of course, that DN's little legs are still too short so his was powered by PF and yours truly. It was interesting to see how PF and I both "drove" the car differently. (*hint: PF is Jay Chou and I am Morgan Freeman -_-)



DN received 2 more invitations to parties on 22 Sept and 29 Sept, but he couldn't go because he contracted... HAND, FOOT & MOUTH DISEASE! *horrors* He had blisters in the palms of his hands, on the soles of his feet and in his throat. He didn't want to drink any water, so we had to squirt water into his mouth with a syringe. He had a short fuse and little things would set him off - taking the remote control away from him, not giving him his crackers fast enough, not letting him walk, etc.

The first night was terrible. He woke up almost every hour (i.e. about 8 times that night!) and after a while, I didn't want to sleep because, what's the point?! Poor little guy. The ulcers in his throat must have been a pain.

BUT! The illness didn't affect his energy level at all. He was still as active as ever, wanting to walk everywhere. Just 3 weeks ago, DN could only walk about 8 steps before falling over, but now, he's pottering about everywhere.

Mummy! We miss you !

June is away from Sunday to Sunday in HK attending a conference, thus that leaves me and DN here in Singapore... Its already Thursday, the boy and I had quite an eventful couple of days.. at least from Sunday till Tuesday.

DN seems to bid his time on when he gets unwell, the last time he fell sick was when June and I decided to take a day off and leave DN with my parents for 1 day and 1 night. This time, he seemed well when we sent June off at the airport in the morning. By evening, he was coughing and developed a mild fever. I gave him some fever medication but forgot that he has grown since the last time we gave him medication. I only asked my mom to give 1ml every 6 hours. On Monday morning, I checked his temperature and there was no more fever, so I went in to work. When I got home that evening, he was in good spirits even though he had a running nose and a cough. He waved when asked, crawling about chasing me around the sofa. I checked his temp and he had fever again, so decided to bring him to the doctor. We went to his usual Dr Khoy at Thomson Medical, spent less than 5mins in consultation but spent $116.... When briefed on amount of medication to give DN, I realised that based on his current age and weight, he will need to given 2ml instead of 1ml of his fever medicine. Anyway, it seemed DN got an infection and would take 5 days to recover. DN is a funny boy, he never seem to be affected by all his illness, he would continue chasing me, my mum or my dad ard the living rm.

Here's a pic of him behind the sofa waiting to pounce on his prey...

DN on the prowl...

DN recovering and still blur look

Well Sunday is just round the corner, DN and I are looking forward to seeing Mummy soon...

Baby's First Bug

About 3 weeks ago, DN caught his 1st bug. Bah. It really caught me by surprise because I truly believed my breastmilk was superior to the elixir of youth, and because it was the antidote of all antidotes, harmful bacteria and viruses would just bounce off my baby. DN was invincible!

Alas, it is not true. My baby is normal. Humph.

DN had a phlegm-y cough for slightly more than a week and a runny nose too. It was terrible to hear him hacking away at night. When he woke up, oh my goodness, he had those old-man-in-the-morning coughs. The only thing that was missing was the "kaaaa-pui" and the projectile flying phlegm.

The good thing is, he was in pretty good spirits the entire week. :D All that hacking didn't seem to faze the little guy, and he couldn't care less that his nose was flowing like the Ganges. We figure he probably picked up the bug at the PD's when we were there just a coupla days before for his jab.

*BUGger*!

My breastmilk has failed me! It didn't help to combat DN's second "attack" of eczema too.

DN's eczema came back! His last "attack" was when he was about 2 months old. Dry, angry, red patches on his cheeks. The doc prescribed a topical steriod cream. It was SUPER effective, but a side effect was that it could affect his growth. (WHAT??!!) So I decided to try an organic, all-natural cream recommended by a friend and goodgollygraciousmissmolly, it worked!


In true Singaporean fashion, before DN's first tub finished, I bought 4 more tubs. -_-










Looks like rosy cheeks right? But no, it's his eczema patches. :(







But still very cute lah, hahahaha...