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Pony: Vaccine Fever
6.27.2008
Yesterday Gabriel got his Prevnar and Varicella (pneumococcal and chicken pox, respectively) vaccines. I debated the chicken pox vaccine. that virus is a right of passage for childhood, right?
And I worry - in my limited reading and near ignorance about these matters - about removing a "manageable" virus from the viral ecosystem - could something more virulent take its place? Does anyone know about this?
But then a few people I know said "you have never seen someone with a really bad case of chickenpox - kids can end up in the hospital and with disfiguring scars."
I'm no expert, but I know better than to operate on rumour and suspicion. Yesterday morning he got the vaccines, by late afternoon, we got a call from the daycare saying he had a fever of 104. When Kiff got there, they had taken off G's shirt and put a cold cloth on his neck like a boxer. He was glassy-eyed and seemed to be uncomfortable with touch.
There is nothing more frightening or more tender than a sick baby. Moist eyes and skin, serious and slow-blinking, toes and hands like burning coals! Suddenly he is your baby again, head to breast, breathing shallow - you watching the speeding pulse on his neck with alarm, humming songs to keep you both calm.
We gave him some Tempra and a cool bath, but it was a rough night. I called telehealth around midnight, and they told me it was probably a reaction to Prevnar, and that only 2 per cent of kids get fevers that high, and that we should only worry if his fever went above 40 (104). It was 39.7
That is the weird thing about having kids - you obsess about doing the right thing for them and then you if make a choice and they suffer as a result, you are consumed with guilt!
There was not a lot of sleep to be had last night. This morning he slept on my chest, the way he used to when he was an infant. So soft and sweet - every now and then he would wake up and say "Oh!" or "Hi!" and then snooze a bit more.
