Roseola

This picture is from last Saturday. Thom was pushing him around in his wagon.

Sunday night, after Aaron barely ate anything for dinner, I discovered he had a fever of 102. We gave him some Tylenol before bed and assumed he had whatever I had been fighting off over the weekend. This is his first illness since being completely weaned, so he no longer has the benefit of my immune system.

He didn't feel well on Monday. In fact, he cried and cried when Kim arrived, whereas he usually goes right to her without a kiss goodbye to me. But he was clingy and crying and it took Thom to get him calmed down enough for Kim to take him for a walk.

After about 30 minutes of walking, he fell asleep, so Kim texted me that she was going to keep walking with him. She ended up walking around the neighborhood for 2 hours! But when he woke up, he was happy as a clam. He still went down for his afternoon nap and slept over 3 hours and was ready for bed early, he was so tired. And still not much appetite, but he fortunately was drinking enough water and milk to stay hydrated.

His fever spiked up over 103 Monday night, so we called the nurse line. He didn't really have any other symptoms, aside from being excessively tired and little appetite, so she just said to keep an eye on it and recommended two full droppers of Infant Tylenol (we weren't sure how much to give, but were giving about a dropper and a half). Every night we gave him Tylenol, I went in before bed to feel his head and make sure he wasn't burning up. I never had to give him a second dose at night.

Tuesday was a little better until the afternoon. He was fussy and clingy and his fever rose again. This time the nurse said that if he still had a fever on Wednesday, to call his pediatrian's office in case they wanted to see him, but she thought we could probably make it through the night with a dose of Tylenol. Having a fever as his primary symptom, we were told it could be an ear infection or possibly roseola. With roseola, the fever would break after 3-5 days followed by a rash, but until the rash developed, you couldn't tell if that was what caused the fever. It is one of those common childhood illnesses that most kids get before 2, but which I had never heard of until now. I'm sure it is the first of many.

Wednesday, his temp was down between 99-100, which didn't seem to warrant a call to the pediatrician's office. He seemed a little better, but still tired. At one point when I was out of my office, I saw him reclined in Kim's lap reading books. I took his temperature (with a temporal artery thermometer) which had been causing him to cry and fuss, and he didn't bat an eyelash, he was so comfy and tired. He napped 4 hours and when he woke up, his temp was under 99. He was still fussy and had no appetite last night, but he went to bed early and slept through the night. In fact, he's been sleeping remarkably well through this illness compared with his last one.

Today, he still has no fever, but he does have a faint red rash on his trunk, face and inside his elbows, so I'm pretty sure it is roseola. I guess we can mark one childhood illness off our list. I had to call my friend Biriz though because we visited her and Alara on Tuesday. We thought he probably just had a cold that was going around, and Biriz wasn't worried since they had just had it. Her daughter turns 2 this month and I'm not sure if she has had it yet. If she hasn't, she will probably get it soon since she was playing very close to Aaron.

I'm just glad my happy little boy is returning. He was so sad and lethargic for 3 days. In fact, when he started feeling better last night, he was throwing things gentley and smiling at me, since he knows we don't throw things in the house. I knew I couldn't allow throwing just because he's been sick, but seeing him being playful and funny again made it really hard not to smile back.