Pregnant with a Fever = Overnight stay at the Hospital

Baby Boy 25 weeks

I'm now 27 weeks along. The picture to the right is from 25 weeks. I just have been too busy to post anything. We still have not seen his face. Hopefully at my next appointment we will.  Overall this pregnancy has gone great. I've felt good overall and the baby has been growing well and everything has been very normal. 

Wednesday night around bedtime, my throat started getting sore. I rarely get sick so this was a little concerning. I gargled with hydrogen peroxide before bed. In the morning it felt worse. My right middle finger was also in pain from a hangnail. Throughout the day I felt worse and worse. I did all of the natural remedies I could. Gargled with salt water, gargled with salt water and sage, ate some raw garlic cloves, drank apple cider vinegar, made a smoothie, and blended 3 cups of water with a lemon and some strawberries. But nothing was really helping. I rarely go to a doctor because of a sore throat or a hangnail problem but something didn't feel right. I called my family practitioner and they didn't have any openings on Thursday. I decided to try CVS's minute clinic once my husband got home. I figured they could confirm whether or not I had strep throat and if my finger was infected. By the way, the Minute Clinic was great! Easy to get into, not a lot of sick people around, etc. 

Once my husband got home, I had him drive me over there. I didn't want to take the kids to the doctor alone. Anyone with small kids knows taking little kids to the doctor is only asking for trouble. I had been having chills and low energy most of the afternoon. The nurse practitioner at the minute clinic checked for my temperature and it was 101.9. She also checked for strep, no strep, and said my finger was infected but enough to cause a fever like I had. She said since I was pregnant I needed to go to the hospital or an emergency clinic so they could put 2 liters of fluids in me and figure out where the infection was coming from. I wanted to cry. So off to the maternal ward at the hospital we went. With all of the pregnancy issues I've had, I know to just go to the maternal ward if there's ever a problem. 

The nurse checked me in and took my temperature. They hooked me up to some monitors. My heart rate and my baby's was very high. This was most likely due to my fever. Sure enough they put an IV in me and started fluids. They took 3 vials of blood and were able to check my blood count, strep throat, mono (just in case it was that), my thyroid levels, and anything else. Thankfully everything came back fine. However, I was having mild contractions and with a fever they could not send me home so they kept me overnight. They said I would need to stay until my fever went away so I didn't go into preterm labor. The hospital is not very restful as they needed to come in and check on me every few hours. I also had the tight baby monitors around my big belly, which around 1am, I was able to have them taken off for a few hours. I also had the painful IV in my hand. However, I would rather make sure everything is fine than go home and things go bad. I was sad to spend the night away from my family, as I have never spent the night away from Princess but sometimes we have to do what we have to do. 

My husband did great with the kids. I told him before I knew I was going to stay the night to head home with the kids to get them to bed. My dad said he could take me home from the hospital when they released me that evening before I knew I was staying. They gave me three rounds of antibiotics through the IV, 3 liters of fluids, two doses of pain pills, and things looked up. Thankfully I was able to go home Friday around 11. 

We told a handful of people and my husband was able to find someone to watch our kids Friday morning. Thank you, Micah! I was able to pick them up after lunch, although I still needed to rest. I also knew Princess would need a nap. I'm just so glad the baby and me are doing good. We are still not sure what caused my temperature to go up so high but now I know to call my OB for anything, even a sore throat and to get care from her when pregnant. I love my doctor and am glad she's always willing to go the extra mile for me and my baby. I'm still not 100% better but I feel a lot better than I did. I'm just thankful to God that it wasn't something more serious.