I’ve had several Bees ask me why I pack so much in my diaper bag.  More specifically, why I always make sure to have a thermometer and Tylenol in tote!  So I wanted to tell the story of Baby Jumper’s first time in the emergency room to offer some insight.

Baby Jumper had a pretty bad reaction to her first set of vaccinations at two months old.  She spiked a fever of 103 degrees and our pediatrician advised us to give her some Tylenol.  We did, but she immediately threw it back up.  It seemed that not only was Baby Jumper sensitive to the vaccinations,  but to the Tylenol as well.  We braced ourselves for a similar fate at her four month vaccinations.  I’m happy to say that while Baby Jumper didn’t have nearly as bad of a reaction as she did to the first set of vaccinations, but she did spike a fever.  We gave her Tylenol again, and like before, she immediately threw it back up.  Fortunately, a cool bath helped with her temperature.  Our pediatrician recommended that we give Baby Jumper Tylenol suppositories in the future.

A few weeks later, Baby Jumper woke up feeling a bit warm but was acting very much like herself.  We agreed to keep an eye on her and take her temperature in a bit if she still felt warm.  We took her temperature at 11am, and it was 99 degrees.  Around 1:00 that afternoon, she was acting a bit more sluggish and was super cranky.  We took her temperature again, and it was 101.5 degrees, so we decided to give her a Tylenol suppository.  She fell asleep shortly afterwards, but woke up an hour later acting like herself again.  Her fever seemed to have gone down.

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Because she was back to her normal self, we decided to keep our dinner plans with my parents that night.  By the time we got to my parents house at 4pm, Baby Jumper’s fever had returned.  She was visibly shaking and breathing very, very rapidly.  My mom took her temperature while I called the emergency line at our pediatrician’s office.  Her temp was 103.5 degrees and because of her high temp and rapid breathing, the nurse instructed us to get to Children’s Hospital immediately.

It took five hours and a multitude of tests to diagnose Baby Jumper with a urinary tract infection.  We were relieved to have an explanation, but I was overcome with guilt and confusion.  Papa Jumper and I are responsible for her hygiene, and I was terrified that we were doing something wrong.  We’re always so careful to wipe front to back, and I never noticed any symptoms of a UTI.  Naturally, at 4.5 months old, Baby Jumper couldn’t tell me that it hurts when she urinates — but she never showed any signs of discomfort, either.  The doctors and nurses at Children’s Hospital assured me over and over again that this was not our fault.  We were given instructions, a prescription for antibiotics, and told to follow up with our pediatrician in the morning.  Before we left, Baby Jumper was given her first oral dose of antibiotics.


We got home around 11:30pm and Baby Jumper woke up when we took her out of her car seat.  She felt dangerously warm to me, and wasn’t very responsive other than eye movement. Her last dose of Tylenol was at 8:30 and I couldn’t give her more for another hour.  So, I immediately drew a cold bath, stripped her naked, and took her temperature while the tub filled.

{yup, that says 105.5}

Panic filled my entire body.  I froze.  I honestly didn’t know what to do.  Papa Jumper called 911.  Baby Jumper started shaking so I laid her on her side, on our bed.  Her eyes rolled back, and I felt my heart sink.  It seemed like an eternity, but the ambulance arrived and whisked Baby Jumper back to Children’s Hospital… for a second time that day.  She was given more Tylenol and was sitting up and babbling within a half hour.  The doctor explained that Baby Jumper had had a febrile seizure, and while harmless, we did the right thing by calling 911 and having her brought back in.  We were overjoyed and relieved that she was safe and healthy.  The hospital discharged us around 4:00am and we went back home for a second time that night.

We’re very fortunate that Baby Jumper’s illness, while scary, was only temporary.  She responded to the antibiotics, and her follow up appointment 10 days later revealed that the infection was gone.  Since she is so young, and UTI’s are so uncommon in babies her age, our pediatrician is worried that this will become a recurrent issue.  AAP guidelines indicate that no follow-up testing need be done until she has a second UTI before she’s 2 years old.  The main concern is kidney scarring and reflux.

Baby Jumper is now seven months old and so far, she is infection-free.  We’re told that if it’s going to recur, it will most likely be within 12 months of her first infection.  We are extra vigilant about changing her diapers now and only use Pampers Sensitive with the wetness indicator.  We use more diaper wipes than ever before, and don’t let her take bubble baths. So because Baby Jumper seems to spike high fevers that are seemingly out of the blue, we never leave the house without a thermometer, Vaseline and Tylenol.