Random Bits

Well I thought I would post a little today. I have some random bits of information since I last posted. Now that we are back and somewhat settled, I finally got Cooper to the doctor for his 9 month check up. While in Knoxville, we used a very highly recommended pediatrician. Although she cared for Marlee and Cooper, we just never felt the same connection that we had with our GA doctor. I guess it has to do as much with history and comfort than anything. So, I was very excited to take Cooper back to see Dr. Douglass. She's so laid back and asks about the family and just genuinely seems to care and spend time with us. Coop's checkup went very well. She says he's growing right on track. He weighs 18 1/2 lbs, which puts him in the 25% for other boys his age. I've forgotten how tall he was, but I do know it was in the 25th percentile, too. He's also right on track developmentally.

That afternoon he started to run a fever. Since she has thoroughly checked him out from head to toe, I just thought it was associated with teething. Well, the fever didn't go away and lingered for about 3 days. I called the nurse's help line on Wednesday to see if I should bring him in. They said as long as his fever was below 101 then he didn't need to come in (since he has just been checked and nothing was wrong with his ears, throat, etc). We kept rotating motrin and tylenol. I think since I started him on tylenol as soon as he felt warm (99.9) I kept the high temps away. He did get up to 100.7. Well Thursday afternoon the fever was gone but still no teeth. I had my suspicions about what was wrong, but I was waiting on one key feature. Friday afternoon my suspicions were confirmed when I changed his diaper and saw a red rash all over his torso. So the poor guy had roseola. It is very common in children his age. Actually, Marlee had it when she was around one year old. Except with her, her fever got up to 103. I was totally freaking out and took her to the doctor. He said he thought it was roseola and to wait for a rash. Sure enough one showed up on her after about three days with a fever.

So for all you new moms out there, don't panic when your child is running a high fever with no other symptoms. Rotate the tylenol and motrin. Lukewarm bathes and frozen wash cloths help too. All you can do for roseola is wait it out. It is a viral infection, so no medication can do anything.

Yesterday we went over to our friend Lindsay's house for a play date. Her little boy, Charlie. is two weeks older than Cooper. She has a play group of moms with babies all around the same age. They get together a few times a month and let the babies play and let the moms talk. I prepared Marlee as best as I could. I think she was still a little shocked with the number of babies there. I think there were 10 or so. She was well behaved and really just kept to herself. Cooper seemed to enjoy himself. That afternoon we went to visit some more friends, the Burke's. Marlee had a grand time playing. The Burke's have a little boy a few weeks younger than Cooper. So, Coop really had fun. We stayed for dinner which was nice. I really had a nice time catching up with friends and look forward to more play dates in the future.

We're expecting bone-chilling temperatures, as the meteorologist said, by the end of the week. If only, so precipitation was floating around in the sky. Marlee has only had one experience with snow. It was around this time last year. By the time we got outside, it had started to melt. I think she would have a ball playing around in the snow. Hopefully one day she'll experience a great snow.

Well, enough random bits of info for today. Stay warm!


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