Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Oh Roseola!

It's been a whirlwind week and a bit.  I started the new gig officially last Monday and when you're working from home, it's a bit strange to start a new job, as you kind of live in la-la land for the first few days.  Add to the confusion a daycare provider unavailable for periods of a few days due to appointments and a teething baby, it's lots of fun.

Grandma Vallier came up as of Wed afternoon to help watch Maddie through the crazy week - while I had meetings and work schedules that I was trying to figure out.  Grandpa and Grandma Burke showed up for a visit on Thursday afternoon, dropping off Christmas presents and taking us all out to dinner.

That night (Thurs) Maddie didn't sleep well and felt warm to me.  The next day I headed into work for the full day and she hung out with Grandma Vallier.  She apparently seemed fine all day, but felt warm at one point again.  Figuring it was just teething, I didn't worry too much about it.  That night, at Maddie's bedtime we headed down to Kingston as we had the Xmas dinner with Seth's extended family on Saturday afternoon.  

Saturday morning saw Maddie definitely not feeling well, very tired, cranky, not hungry and still running a bit of a fever.  We kept up our hectic pace though, as I still just thought it was teething... 

After a crazy Saturday night where she wouldn't sleep at all unless tucked up beside me, and running a fever of 39.2, we headed down to the hospital to get her checked out.  They did the regular checks, and also did a catheter (DON'T recommend this on a 13 month old, at least I don't recommend having to be in the room while it happens) to check whether it was a UTI.  They didn't find anything, so we were told to monitor her fever and take her to the doctor at home if it didn't drop in the next day or so.

So we headed back home, on a long long drive where we had to stop a few times to change a diarrhea diaper, try to feed a cranky baby and bathroom breaks for the adults.  4 (!!!) hours later we were home.  The rest of the day was a nightmare as we dealt with a cranky-ass toddler and two sleep-deprived, cranky-ass parents.

Monday we kept Maddie out of daycare and took shifts on watching her - me in the morning, Seth coming home early from work to watch her in the afternoon.  The fever had broken and she was doing a little better.  Still very sucky.  Still not eating/drinking much.  Still very weak and wobbly on her legs.  But better than the past few days.

So we sent her to daycare today (Tuesday).  I knew she wasn't 100% but we both had work commitments we had to keep.  And then I get the call.  From daycare.  Around noon.  I looked at the phone, say the daycare provider's number and thought, shiiiiiiiiiiit, what's happened?

Apparently Maddie had developed a rash all over her belly, back, face and neck.  Weird right?  I couldn't think of any allergic reaction she could be having, so I googled "baby fever rash".  And low and behold, a million pages come up about "Roseola".  Apparently very common, it's a viral thing that babies under the age of 3 can get - sudden high fever, accompanied by low appetite, lethargy and irritability (check, check, and double check!).  Then once the fever breaks, a rash shows up for a few hours to a few days.

So there we have it.  A reason for the fever.   A reason for the cranky, non-eating baby.  Where she got it?  Have no idea.  How long she'll have it for?  No clue - the rash is still there.  Will she be back to her old self soon?  God, I hope so...

xxoo.S


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