The Pox!

Update as we return from the doctor.  My son (and daughter now too) have Chicken Pox.  The original diagnosing doctor came back in with two other doctors to verify and get a three-way opinion.

They estimate he has upwards of 500 sores and given the general all over locations, coupled with the itchiness merits a Chicken Pox diagnosis.  My son was just old enough to have had one of three vaccination shots for Chicken Pox, but not enough apparently to keep him from contracting it, or lessen the severity of it.

If the virus was Hand, Foot and Mouth, the incubation time is fairly short, only a few days.  With Chicken Pox though, the incubation can be from ten to twenty one days our pediatrician said.  So all of our efforts to sanitize and separate the children was in vain.  But there is possible good news for my daughter.


Because she wasn't delivered pre-term like my son, the doctor said she got more of my antibodies.  The last tri-mester is when the bulk of immunities are past from mother to fetus.  Also, because I finished the very last bottle of breast milk this week, there's a good chance she's going to have a far better resistance to Chicken Pox than my son did.   And this does fit with her symptoms.

If they were both exposed at relatively the same time, she has gone five additional days and has had only a low-grade fever (101.1 as the highest) and very little in the way of sores.  Call me Polly Positive, but I have to hope my daughter won't get the worst of it like my son has.

What does this all mean?  For my daughter, there was the possibility of a booster shot for children exhibiting early symptoms, but she is well under the minimum year requirement, so that's out. So mostly, we treat fever, give them baths in soothing oatmeal treatments, treat itching with Caladryl or Calamine lotion and give Benadryl when necessary. 

At their next check-up, they'll get a test to see if they have the antibody for Chicken Pox in their system and if so, they won't get the vaccination rounds. It also means they won't have to get this when they're older.  Considering their ages now, they're not going to remember it either.

Oh, and did I mention we're going on a family vacation at the end of next week?  We asked today what our doctor would recommend.  Did I mention this is my favorite doctor?  She's very practical tells you what you should do, even if you don't want to hear it.  She said they both should be beyond contagious states at that point because they will be done erupting new sores.  She also said we'd probably need a vacation by then.  So travel away. 

We called family today as well to make sure they were okay with us coming.  It looks like we're heading to Florida for Easter still, scabby babies and all.