Roseola - Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

On Sunday morning when I went to get Calleigh out of her crib, I noticed that she appeared to have a red mark on her cheek. I wondered if something had bitten her while she was sleeping (my mind jumps to the story of the rat that ate part of a baby's ear while the baby slept in her crib). I picked her up and noticed a similar mark on her left cheek. What was going on? I took off her pajamas and it turned out that she had the marks all over her body. So at least I knew it wasn't a rat! It didn't look like the rash that she had back in July - - these were more like big red splotches. Toni came in a few moments later and when I showed her, she immediately thought of Fifth's Disease which is what Mia had when we were in Nova Scotia. When Duncan got up a short time later, I put him to the task of research. We came up with the more friendly Sixth Disease, aka, Roseola. The reason I say more friendly is because Fifth's Disease can be dangerous for a pregnant woman. I can't help but wonder if there are First - Fourth diseases. Sounds like something to google when I have some free time.

Please note, I know these pictures of her with the Roseola aren't very clear - - can't help it. This camera stinks.

In my post last Wednesday, I mentioned that Calleigh had a fever. She subsequently had a fever the following two evenings but otherwise seemed fine. I chalked it up to the fact that she was getting some molars but apparently, it was the beginning stages of Roseola. The splotches continued to get worse as Sunday progressed but they weren't itchy and didn't seem to bother her. She certainly didn't look her best. Of course, that didn't stop up us from going to First Watch! Even though our research told us there was nothing you could really do for the Roseola, I still wanted to take her to the doctor on Monday because we couldn't be 100% sure we had correctly diagnosed it.

Calleigh woke up at 5:30 on Monday morning but I was able to get her back to sleep eventually until 8:00. The first thing I noticed when she got up was that she looked just about normal. There was hardly any sign of splotches whatsoever. It essentially disappeared over night. You could see a little on her stomach but just barely. Nonetheless, I called the pediatrician and got an appointment for 10:00. We had to go in the back door because they were afraid she may be contagious. When the doc saw her, he said that it could be one of two things. Either an allergic reaction to something or Roseola. Since she had the fever, he thought it was most likely Roseola. So Dr. Grodack (Duncan) had it correct. Today, there is absolutely nothing left - - as if it never happened. All's well, that ends well as they say.

Sunday afternoon while Calleigh slept, we gathered to watch the Patriots/Bills game. Shannon invited two new friends of hers, Sam and Chris, over to watch. They both went to Andrews and Sam is friends with Rad. They're both nice guys.

Yesterday afternoon Shannon came over to watch Calleigh while I went for my 12-week doctor's appointment. I had the first phase of testing for Down Syndrome. They do an ultrasound to look at the width of a strip near the spine. If it's less than three millimeters, than you pass this phase of the testing. Well, my little bugger didn't want to cooperate at all. He (for some reason, I think of it as a "he" although obviously I have no basis to support this) wouldn't get into the correct position. She had my keep pressing my abdomen to get him to turn over. He kept kicking his arms and legs and moving all around but he wouldn't turn over for anything. He finally turned just enough so that she could measure and it was 1.6 millimeters so that was good news. The second and third phases of testing are getting blood drawn at 12 weeks and 16 weeks. And yes, I know he looks like an alien!!

I find it interesting as to why they do this Down Syndrome testing. I'm sure it is a great relief for people to know that their child doesn't have the disease (although it's not 100% accurate, of course) but I can't help but think about how this new technology has probably resulted in many more abortions (sidebar - - one thing I learned from the Sarah Palin thing was that 95% of people who find out they'll have a Down Syndrome baby, abort them. Wow!). The really sad thing is that I know many people with Down Syndrome can lead happy, even productive lives. So really, when people are aborting their babies, I think it's usually because they don't want the inconvenience and hassle of having to take care of a Down Syndrome child. Just my opinion. At any rate, I suppose it will be good to know that my baby doesn't have it, if indeed those are the results, but even if the results were positive, it certainly wouldn't change anything for me - - except maybe to do lots of research! This is my baby, a gift from God, no matter what.

I had a lot of blood drawn after the ultrasound and if you know me, I HATE needles. But it was absolutely the best blood drawing experience I've ever had. I barely felt a thing. Yay! My next appointment is on December 8 and then four weeks after that, at the beginning of January, I'll have the ultrasound that will show the sex.

Today Calleigh and I did a little shopping. Thriftko had a 50% off sale because of Veteran's Day so we got a few things there. I also went to a couple of consignment stores looking for Sabbath dresses since she barely has any that aren't summer-y. We found a few. She'll definitely have this on her Christmas list!

Poor Duncan can barely talk. He has some bad congestion in his throat and it has caused him to practically lose his voice. However, this hasn't stopped him from eating cookies which he's doing right now!

Calleigh is still enjoying her singing. Besides the "Jesus Loves the Little Ones" that I told you about before, her other big ones are "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and "Jesus Loves Me." She can almost say the first two lines of it - - "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so." She skips some words but she gets the important ones.

This evening I finally started on Calleigh's scrapbook. I do enjoy scrapbooking but it seems like I never have time. I really want to at least do one of the first year of her life and now it is at last underway. Hopefully I can stick with it!

I know I don't really have any exciting pictures to share but this camera is a real dud so I never feel like taking any with it!