A Pox Upon Us?

Under the heading of, "things she'll kill me for sharing with the world when she's a teenager," MG pooped in the tub last night. So, we pulled the kids out, and they were exhausted and freezing so I just said, "Oh hell, it's just a little poop," cleaned them up as best I could with wipes, put their jammies on, and started putting them to bed (while BJ cleaned up the mess, God love him).

MG was really itchy while I was trying to get her to sleep. I actually scolded her (hello, Guilt! Are you back again?) because she wouldn't lie still. I figured that there was a little soap left on her, or that her scalp itched because she hasn't had her hair washed in a couple days.

I finally got her to sleep around 10:15, and she was back up at 12 am, crying and a little hysterical. Now, she still isn't sleeping through the night (I know!), but usually she just calmly comes and sneaks into our bed, because she's learned that if she wakes me up I take her back to her room. So the crying was weird.

BJ took her back to her bed while I finished getting Claire back to sleep (she had gotten up before MG, and was almost out again). She continued to cry, "I need my mommy!" This is also unusual. Usually she'll register a token protest if Daddy takes her back to bed instead of Mommy, but this went on, and on, and on...

I finally went in there and the 3 of us laid down together. "Mommy, rub my back!" she said, as she hitched up her nightie. She likes "skin to skin" contact. After rubbing her sides for a few moments, I noticed that she felt bumpy. BJ had dozed off by this time, so I woke him up and made him turn on the light (she would've spazzed if I'd gotten up, and he would've been awakened anyway, so I saved us the spazzing by preemptively waking him up). I could see bumps all over her side. "Go get my dad!" I said, thinking, "Oh my God, she's having an allergic reaction to her antibiotic!"

Dad came up right away (it is so convenient having a nurse in the house!) and said, "It looks like chicken pox." It's not blistered (yet?) but it's raised and red. He said the pattern wasn't what you'd expect for an allergy or hives, and that antibiotic allergies are usually respiratory. He went to the pharmacy for us to get benedryl and calamine lotion, and I kept her awake by telling her about what TV was like when I was a kid. Have you ever tried to explain The Flintstones? It sounds completely insane.

I asked Dad to be sure to get the correct dose for a 30 pound kid. Apparently the pharmacist said, "Oh, we can't even recommend that for kids under 6 anymore. Now, if you'd asked before, the dose for a 30 pound kid used to be half a teaspoon, but I can't tell you that now. Sorry," wink wink.

I would like to invite the person or people who decided that a few stupid parents overdosing their kids was sufficient reason to take all cold medicines away from all parents of children under 6 to see me in hell!

Anyway, the benedryl that is Not Recommended but extremely effective knocked her out like a prize fighter and she even slept all night! This morning I called the doctor's office and said, "Did I decline to have MG vaccinated for chicken pox back when I'd never had a sick kid and didn't know any better?" and they said, "No, she had the vaccine, and she's not due for another dose until kindergarten..." and I explained what was going on, and that she was on antibiotics, and the nurse advised me to hold off on giving her any more antibiotic until she's been seen, just in case.

So, that's that. Either she's allergic to antibiotics or she has chicken pox. I guess that even someone who is vaccinated can get chicken pox, but it's usually a mild case. The chicken pox vaccine is live virus, and Claire got that vaccine on Friday, so it seems to me that if she caught it from a weakened strain (in the vaccine) and if she has had the vaccine, she shouldn't get a bad case, right? I'm waiting to call the mommies of all the kids who were here on Sunday until I know what we're dealing with. No sense freaking Karen and Jenny out by saying, "Owen, Cameron, and Monty were exposed to chicken pox..." if it's an allergy, right? They have plenty of time to lay in supplies of black market benedryl and calamine lotion, if it is chicken pox. Hell, I'll even deliver. That's the kind of friend I am. I may give your kids disease, but I will do whatever I can to help you through it!