Isn't it sad...

About three weeks ago, Jack came down with croup. We recovered from that and about a week last he came down with Pneumonia. We've had walking pneumonia before. For Jack, it was basically a cough that wouldn't go away for about 3 weeks. This was different. Coughing constantly, sleep in 10-minutes spurts from Wednesday to Saturday night and just the general "look" about him that he was miserable.

He had run low-grade fever for a couple of days. On that Thursday night, I took him to after-hours care (thank goodness for that place!). I had not meant to do that. I called the doctor's office to ask there was a cough medicine they could recommend that might help him get through the night and then come see them in the morning. (**Just to remind everyone that giving your child cough medicine is not going to hurt them if you follow directions. The mess in the news was primarily because parents were giving their kids too much medicine to "help" things along. Too much medicine is never good for anyone - especially a child!) After describing his symptoms, combined with his asthma, she wanted someone to listen to him and told me to go to after hours. So we went. Now, remember, he had only run low grade fever for the day and half that he had been sick. The issue was that he couldn't sleep because of the cough. Once we got called back, they weighed him and took him temperature. Poor Jack....they took it rectally. (I've always been an under the arm kind of gal.) I glanced over to see what the temp was reading and there it was....104. I sort of freaked out a little internally. Jack has NEVER run a temperature over 101.5. So 104! We immediately stripped him down, gave him more motrin and scooted off to see the doctor. After strep test, flu test and x-rays it turned out that he had pneumonia on the left side.

I decided from then out that I would not ever trust the "under the arm" reading on my thermometer again. I know the one I have works. I just don't trust that I'm doing it right anymore. No more fighting with a child that won't stay still long enough to take it while they're wiggling around. From that day on, it's taken the hospital way only. Sorry Jack.

That was almost two weeks ago. Isn't it sad that now, every time I change his diaper, he says to me "Mommy, I don't want to take my temperature." As if to remind me not to in case I was thinking about doing it just for the heck of it. Poor guy!