Last month (April) has been a tough month for me. After spending 30 minutes of happiness and a refreshing swim, my baby got sick.
I woke up with a sick baby next to me.
After checking his temperature, it shows that he has a fever. 39.3°C is quite high and that makes me worry.
It's his first-ever fever (except when he got his immunization shots).
And what I did was give him a lukewarm sponge bath. Then place a cool wet washcloth on his head to draw the fever out.
I also give him some medication, like Tempra to help him fight the fever. But that won't treat him immediately. It's still high. 38.2°C at night.
Sadly, we don't have enough money to buy some more medication like Cool fever and other ibuprofen.
Thanks to Hive, I have other options and sources of income that I can receive whenever an emergency happened.
That night I immediately sell my Hive and received it in my bank account.
This is a small earning, but a big help to my sick baby. This was supposed to be for his high chair, but treating his fever is far more important than that chair.
So that night, I've been able to buy some treatment for him.
Another day has come, and his fever is still there. We're supposed to bring him to a doctor... But my friend suggests trying the "hilot" or "massage". This is the folk healing tradition that treats childhood common ailments such as fever, cough, and colds.
We go there and pay P50.
The manghihilot (Traditional Masseur) is good. She's using oil and a banana leaf to know where the problem is.
My baby seems relaxed. He didn't cry.
After that massage, I try to observe if his fever will already cool down.
Nope. He's still sick. 37.6°C based on the thermometer. And he has diarrhea. So I decided to bring him to the pedia the other day.
We go there at 10 am and a lot of other parents with their babies are waiting.
Different situations, but all in all I can see how worried and tired they are.
Out of all the patients, my baby is the only one active, and no sign of sickness.
He keeps on jumping, playing, and doing things like he's fine. After 1 hour of waiting, it's our turn. The doctor just asks how long he's been sick, what medications I use, how long his diarrhea is, etc. Then prescribe some medicine.
It's just a minute of talking, then done. I paid P400 for that chitchat.
I immediately buy the list of medicines, and end up with P100 on my wallet.
Everything seems so expensive when someone got sick. So it's better to stay healthy.
All in all, these medicines cost P444.75. I didn't buy all of it. The budget is one of the problems, and I don't have any cash left.
One more thing to do is the fecalysis. My baby has had diarrhea for 6 days and the doctor thinks, there are other problems. So she prescribed me to do some laboratory for him, and we did.
After giving them the poop samples, they test it, and the result was out. We paid P75 for it.
Good thing there were no parasites found. So it means he has no possibility of having amoeba. One thing we're feared about.
After taking those medicines, my baby seems fine, and his fever reduced.
It's been 2 weeks since his fever and that makes me so worried. Good thing he's getting better now and gaining more weight than usual.
Thanks, Hive for being part of my motherhood journey. I'm grateful that I got to know this platform and got to taste and see how you guys became a big help in my time of need.
Disclaimer: All photographs by me, unless otherwise stated.