Quarantined

Just one week shy of turning 6 months old, our precious Sophia has gotten the Varicella Virus, otherwise known as Chickenpox.  Today is day one with chickenpox spots.  She woke up in the middle of the night with a cry that said 'I am very uncomfortable.'  I went in to her room to comfort her and I knew something was wrong.  I thought it was only a stuffy nose because she has woken up before when she can't breath.  I cleaned out her nose, changed her diaper and fed her to try to calm her down.  She is usually satisfied by this routine and will fall asleep while eating, but this time it took about 45 minutes for her to calm down enough to fall back asleep.  

Sophia has a very consistent internal clock.  She falls asleep every night around 7:30 and wakes every morning around 7:30.  Sometimes she might wake once in the middle of the night, but mostly she just sleeps through until morning.  She loves to go to sleep at night and is very happy to wake up in the morning.  Her smile was there this morning, but as soon as I picked her up she nuzzled into my neck and that's where she wanted to stay.  She did not want to lay down on her changing table so I could change her diaper and take her jammies off but she did want to eat so she had her breakfast.  

We welcomed in the day like we do every morning by opening up the blinds in her room, the living room and our bed room.  Only then was she was ready to change into her day clothes.  The plan for this morning was to drop her off at daycare for an hour with a bottle to make sure she would take a bottle from someone else besides her daddy or mommy.  When I took her jammies off I noticed a few bumps on her tummy and her leg.  I thought that a bug might have gotten into her crib last night and munched on her.  After I put her clothes on she started to whimper again.  She nuzzled into my neck and hung on to me like she has never done before.  

I noticed that she had a runny nose this morning and was sneezing.  She felt a little warm to me too so I took her temperature.  99.1, then 100.4 and then 100.6.  It kept going up.  I gave her some Tylenol, to see if that would help her fever.  She whimpered for almost an hour straight so I decided to call her pediatrician.  I told the nurse about her runny nose, fever and continual crying.  She was going to put me on hold to ask the doctor if he wanted me to bring her in. Just before she was about to put me on hold I mentioned that Sophie has some spot on her that looked like bug bites.  She said, "Now that you mention the rash, guess what?  You need to bring her into the office."  We set up an appointment.  I called daycare to let them know not to expect us this morning.   

As soon as her nurse saw the spots she said, "I'm afraid that might be chickenpox, but the doctor will take a look and let you know for sure."  In the back of my mind I was afraid that was what they were going to say.  Sophie was just too irritable for it to be nothing.  Sure enough, her doctor came in and said that he was surprised to see chickenpox in someone so young, but that is what they are.  He laughed and said, "Well at least she won't need to be vaccinated for them now."  (She would have been vaccinated for them in another 6 months.)  He also said that he hasn't seen a typical case such as this in about 5 years because of the vaccine.  He prescribed some medication that will help reduce the affects of the virus, plus benadryl, calamine lotion, oatmeal bath and tylenol for comfort.   

I spent the rest of the morning calling her daycare and other friends and people with babies that we have come into contact with over the last couple of weeks.  She has only spent a total of two hours with her daycare class this week, but a letter will be sent home to each of their parents so they are aware that they may have been exposed.  

I wracked my brain trying to figure out where we could have come into contact with the virus and I finally resolved that we will probably never know.  We had spent time at the laundromat, had a couple of play dates, had breakfast with some friends, and spent time with other kids at baby bootcamp.  Of course at this age, EVERYTHING goes in the mouth, including licking tables at restaurants and all the communal toys she could get her hands on at daycare.  Finally, after talking with one of our friends, we concluded that she may have gotten the virus from someone who had a bout with shingles last week.  

RELIEF:  at least we have an idea when she may have been exposed and we can narrow down the list of people she has been around since then.  Plus, it makes me feel better that she got it from someone we know and not from licking something that she shouldn't have.  AND it's one or two less shots she will have to get at her one year checkup!  I will have to let you know if I have kept this positive outlook in 3-5 days when she hits the pox peak.  

Stay Well.