Well, we have been dealing with some dramas in our house over the weekend! Late on Friday, Heike came out with a rash all over her body - it started on her face and legs and gradually spread, well, everywhere. We decided to keep and eye on her overnight, rather than having a total stress attack (which parents in general are prone to do).
When we woke up on Saturday morning to find the rash was worse and large welts had developed all over Heike's tiny body, I decided I would start to stress. We rushed straight to casualty (okay we may have stopped for coffee and breakfast) and were swept straight into triage where the nurse took one look at our baby and said "chicken pox".
Chicken pox?!! First of all I was convinced she was in the throes of anaphylaxis, which is probably more telling about my understanding of allergies than anything else, and second of all how the HELL does a nine month old baby get chicken pox? I thought it was the business of grubby school-aged children, and many years away from our present reality.
Of course I've since done lots of reading into "the pox" and have found that it is in fact rare for a baby this age to contract chicken pox. Most babies are still carrying immunity from their mother until they hit about 12 months. It's possible that Heike's immunity has already worn off, or that she never got great immunity from me in the first place (*adds to mental list of failures).
I also thought kids could only get chicken pox by running around and touching and slobbering all over one another, which is why I couldn't believe my perfect bundle who spends most of her time with adults or other babies could possibly have it. But alas, this is also not the case. Chicken pox is highly infectious and, once it's airborne, there's NO STOPPING IT. It could have been that child we sat next to in the cafe...the nice lady and her dog who walk past us each afternoon...the schoolkid in the swing three metres away at the park...it's EVERYWHERE.
In all seriousness I was surprised just how contagious chicken pox is, which is why I have written this delightful community service announcement, so now you know too. The huge, ginormous inconvenience is that I must now shield my highly infectious child from society. Which sucks because spending a week indoors with a baby has been found to cause odd behaviour such as talking to oneself, eating entire packets of cookies and spending long periods of time with ones sight fixated on inanimate objects. So I've heard. Not to mention the sun is shining for the first time in weeks, and we love getting outside to the park. Luckily we have a small back yard where Heike can help me do entertaining things such as hang washing out and weed the garden.
Anyway, for those who are interested I have found the following things to keep Heike comfortable in this trying time (my poor baby!):
- Baths - baths seem to put Heike in a better mood so I assume they are soothing for the pox. According to various websites you can put oatmeal, bicarb soda or Pinesarol bath oil into the water to relieve itching. We have used Pinesarol which is effective but smells like Satan's armpits.
- Calamine lotion - While this does seem to relieve the itch it makes Heike really uncomfortable when we apply it. I think it is probably cold and hurts the more open/weeping lesions.
- Panadol - We rarely use Panadol but because Heike's sleeping has been effected and she has been running a little warm, we've been giving her one or two doses a day. It definitely helps - even if it's just taking the edge off, I figure if I was in her shoes I'd probably be on harder drugs than paracetamol.
- Socks on the hands - The best thing about Heike being so young is that she can't really scratch. I'm not sure she really knows how, but she does rub her face on everything. Nonetheless we have been putting socks on her hands (in lieu of mittens, which we are too cheap to go out and purchase) which prevents any scratching and protects her hands, where the spots are the worst and most concentrated.
- Love, hugs and a relaxed attitude - This is perhaps the best advice I can give, because Heike has needed a little extra TLC over the last few days. She would rather be in my arms than on the floor and would rather be carried than crawl. No worries, says I, you are unwell! She's also not really into food at the moment and has basically only eaten rice cakes and toast. No worries! All good! (That's my relaxed attitude right there).
Anyway, I hope that everyone in your house is healthy and you don't have to deal with the pox any time soon.
Z xx
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