Mothers instincts

So it's been a while since my last post (which also happened to be my first !)

Now whilst I'm hoping to keep the majority of my ramblings funny and light hearted this little one is slightly more serious. 

As a mother of 3 boysterious lads we've had our fair share of knocks,bumps,bruises ,coughs,colds and pretty much everything else in between. Today is a little awareness on meningitis and trusting your mother or fatherly instincts . Here goes....

Our youngest (5month old william) had woke  with a temperature was a little grumpier than normal and had a 'strange' look about him something just wasn't right! 

He was refusing his bottle and was just overly fussy, by 11am he's temperature had risen to 38oC so I gave him calpol and carried on with the chaos of the school run and a toddler to chase after. At around 4oclock William still hadn't had his normal feeds and it was then i spotted his head, his soft spot (fontanelle) had swollen and was hard to the touch and he had become 'twitchy'(his arms and movements were almost puppet like) . Instantly I recognised this as a cause for medical attention . Straight to A and E,  after a quick assessment it was decided he was to be admitted for observation . He had perked up somewhat so I was a little calmer sadly I was wrong and from that point he quickly got worse. Within minutes he had started to grey in colour and became stiff and arched  (his head was practically touching his bum!) his temp peaked at 39oc and they immediately decided to give him a cannula and start antibitoics for the treatment of meningitis. Now I have suffered anxiety for many years and one of my biggest fears for my children is meningitis (I once knew a family whose little girl was taken in hours and it's scared my ever since ) for a moment i thought we would lose him . We had a rough night but he responded well ,I'll cut it a little shorter now , after 2 days and lots of meds we were allowed home under instructions to return every night at 10pm for more iv. Antibiotics.  After 7days all of his blood result had returned and were clear. They have no idea why he was so ill but I feel so lucky. He's had a rough week with needles,prodding , scans and all sorts but he's O.K, he's here and thankfully he's recovered. The doctors said that because he was brought in so soon he was treated before anything nasty could properly take hold. Although it wasn't meningitis I thought I would link a website with symptoms if youd like to read over it as it starts like so many other common illnesses. Our consultant told us the rash associated with meningitis doesn't always occur and normally appears once the infection has taken hold, best to seek help before a rash appears.  If something doesn't feel right trust your instincts and call your doctor or nhs111 

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Meningitis/Pages/Symptoms.aspx

Take care xx