Diary of a New Daddy: Fever!

Caleb has had 2 rather serious bouts of illness so far... a high fever and more recently, long lasting flu which affected his breathing quite a bit and got him rather grouchy. On the other hand, the high fever seemed like a breeze to him, though his parents were super worried, especially when the temperature went up to 39.6C at one point. He didn't seem affected by the fever, and in fact was quite active and playful, even had fun playing hide and seek with mummy (as you can see from the photos below).

We brought him to NUH when his fever peaked. The nurses sponged him down and the PD told us that fever is actually not an illness in itself, but a sign that the body is fighting some virus. Only if the fever goes up to extremely high then it will be detrimental to the brain. Caleb's fever was slightly high, but there was no need to be too worried about it.

The PD gave us a list of items to look out for which will signal that the internal fight may have taken a turn for the worse (thank God Caleb didn't exhibit these signs, we were praying real hard). Sharing the list here for the benefit of other parents. Go to the hospital immediately if...
1. You have diffculty waking your child.
2. Your child seems confused or delirious.
3. Your child does not use an arm or a leg normally, or refuses to stand or put weight on his or her legs.
4. Your child has problems breathing.
5. Your child develops small purple spots on the skin (that may look like bruises).
6. Your child cries constantly and you cannot settle him/her.
7. Your child's skin colour does not look right or becomes grey, blue or pale.
8. Your child has a fit (seizure/convulsion).

P/S : The fever happened a few months back. So to our loved ones and friends... dun worry :)

We did our best to quickly conduct the heat away by putting towels all over his body while he slept. Replaced the towels every 10-15 mins, quite tiring actually, but we were too worried to feel it at that time.