Fever during pregnancy..

I got a really bad cold a few weeks ago and I had read that at 102 you should be calling your doctor and going somewhere. I got to 101.6 before I was able to get the fever down. I would recommend you drink lots of cool water, even take a cool bath or shower, and do whatever else you feel comfortable doing to get the fever down (Tylenol...). In a really short amount of time I had gone from a mild fever to the 101.6 mark and that started to scare me. Remember that lb has a body temperature quite a bit higher than yours so if you are hot, then lb is getting even hotter. My doctor was pleased that I had gotten my fever down and reasonably sure that no harm had come to lb but she would have wanted to see me if the fever had gotten any higher or had lasted any longer.

oh, and feel better soon!

Right... the only time in my life I have ever gotten the flu is when pregnant! both times. I pull out the tylenol when I hit 101, to stave off the 102. If it stays under 101, I just drink lots and rest lots.

Oh, I should say that my midwives recommended echinacea and...I think it's elderberry syrup. Both to stave off illness at the first signs, and to hasten recovery.

I also had the flu-like symptoms early in this pregnancy. I was also told to try to keep it under 102, even if it meant taking Tylenol (which my doctor is VERY slow to okay in pregnancy despite most literature saying it is safe).

I wish I'd taken Tylenol before bed when it was around 101 because I woke up at 3am and was at 102.4. It came down quickly with more fluids and tylenol, but I was glad to see no neural tube problems on the u/s (the time that I had the fever was during a critical neural tube window).

I wanted to add, that from what I've read about fevers in pregnancy, you are way outside of the critical window. Fevers in pregnancy create problems for the baby when the neural tube is forming. You're 18 weeks, and the neural tube has long been formed.

However, there may be other issues that I do not know about. So, if I were you, I would try and keep it down. I personally wouldn't let it get above 102. And I would take tylenol if it got higher than that.