We made it. My newborn daughter is 8 weeks old. As many of you know, this is the pivotal point when your child is able to go out and about with less worry. If she gets a fever it’s 104, not 100.4 that you look for. Big difference.
If she gets a fever it no longer means an automatic trip to the emergency room for a full workup (including spinal tap.) Whew!
*sigh*
My shoulders are relaxing as I think about this milestone. This means I can worry a tad less.
About four weeks ago, when my baby was only 4 weeks old, she had a temperature of 99.3. This started to scare me. What did she have? Why did she feel hot? Would her temperature turn into a fever?
We called the pediatrician’s triage after hours number to find out what to do? We were reminded that if the temperature spikes to 100.4 to take her to the emergency room. My body tensed as we took her temperature and continued to monitor her throughout the weekend, hoping and praying that her temperature wouldn’t get any higher. I didn’t want to end up in the ER having to stand by while the doctors poked and prodded my precious little angel. Luckily, her temperature never got higher than 99.3.
So, now that she’s had her shots and made it to the comfort zone of “regular baby” vs. “newborn, can’t go anywhere, baby” I can relax … now I just need to keep the swine flu away from my family!
ABOUT ALICIA: Alicia is the founder of Balancing Motherhood.com. Last year, she managed to stay sane while completing an MBA, working full-time, blogging, and still baking amazing birthday cakes — all while raising a young family at home.
Susan says
Congrats Alicia! We have made it to two months also! and my little guy FINALLY got the hang of breastfeeding, so no more pumping – yay. I am amazed you can continue to blog regularly, with 2 kids and your animals too… that was a funny post earlier about all the members of your household. Keep it up!
Laurel says
Congrats on two months! I remember being pretty happy about getting into the sturdier stage. Also, around three months they start smiling and that always made me feel as though, hey, he’s here to stay!
Yvonne says
I remember the sigh of relief when my youngest hit two months. She was premature and the doctor was pretty strict about me keeping her home, with no visitors. Some of my family had complete fits. That was hard. But, my baby’s safety is way more important to me than my family’s feelings. Did you have any problems with that?
Alicia at BalancingMotherhood.com says
Thanks for comments. It’s refreshing to know that others feel the same way about the 2 month mark.
Yvonne … I didn’t have any problems with my family, they understood. When we visited my mother in law at her assisted living facility we didn’t go to her dining room (it’s just like a restaurant), but improvised and booked a room on one of the floors to have lunch during two of our visits. It gave us more space without having to deal with a crowd of people. We just had to get creative.
We didn’t have restrictions about visitors, but really limited them and made sure everyone washed their hands.