In a bit of a spot

On September 10th I took JB to her 15 month well baby check up. She vetted out just fine - and I received instructions to change her from whole milk to 2%. It was pretty funny -
Dr. G:"Is she on whole milk?"
Me: "Yes."
Dr. G: "Lets change her to 2% milk."
Me: (giggle) "JB! Dr. G. says you're getting too big!"
Dr. G: "Is she drinking a lot of milk?"
Me: (guilty look plastered on face)(sheepishly) "Ummmm.....yeeeaaaah."
Dr. G: "How much?"
Me: (lying my face off) "Um....24 ounces or so"
Dr. G: "Ok, well lets get her down to no more than 16 ounces per day."

The truth of the matter is that JB was drinking at least a gallon of milk a week ON HER OWN. 24 ounces was how much she would drink on a slow day. Hey - it does a body good right?

Fast forward to today. The first few days she wanted her normal amount of baba's, but now she's getting one or two per day (12-24 ounces daily) with most days only being one bottle days. Mission accomplished with minimal trauma! Go team JB!!!

This past Wednesday night I noticed a puffy rashy spot on her leg. "Hmmmm....that's weird. I wonder what that could be from?". It didn't seem to bother her so I wrote it off, figuring I would keep an eye on it. Then Thursday evening I noticed a bug bite or pimple on the skin between her thumb and index finger of her right hand. Strange, but no big deal.

Friday morning when I got JB out of her crib she had developed two bright red pimple/bug bites on her face and I finally put two and two together. She got her varicella and MMR vaccines. Now she has a rash on her leg (the varicella injection leg) and has developed red bumps. I'll bet my poor girl has the chicken pox - and on Saturday we're supposed to attend cousin Max's second birthday party at JB's favorite park. :-( I called Dr. G's office and spoke to a nurse. Not much help over the phone, I understand you can't diagnose her without seeing her, but I'm at work and can't bring her in. What I want to know is: If she got the pox from her vaccine, is she contagious? They tell me that she is ok to go to daycare (which she doesn't - thanks MIL!) so I figure she's ok to go to the party. My sciencey brain is having trouble with this, but I figure maybe since it's an attenuated virus vaccine (she must be affected only because her immune system was a little compromised by the cold we were sharing at the time of vaccination) the virus must be replicating as a weakened virus so they figure she's not contagious. This is why they are the medical professionals and I'm not right? We'll keep an eye on her, and if she gets worse I'll take her in.

When I pick her up from MIL's she's got a fever, so we stay home while The Big Guy goes to Uncle Blakie Poo's season opener. Saturday morning she's still warm when she wakes at 4am. I administer tylenol then and again at 8am. She takes a 3 hour long nap - missing her next dose interval and putting us an hour late for the birthday party. When she wakes she is cheery and no fever so we go play at the park for about an hour (luckily she played by herself - she's one of the youngest kids there and still is doing the parallel play thing - and was more interested in walking around picking up leaves than playing with the kids), then head out to check progress on the new house. (tile disaster - we're in emergency re-design mode).

This morning no fever -but she's obviously not feeling swell. We're hanging out around the house in our PJ's. When I undress her for her bath I notice that the rash on her leg has changed. It's no longer a regular shape and is much redder. She's also got a new pox on her other leg and maybe 2 on her foot, along with a more normal appearing rash on her chin/cheek. I call the Dr.'s office again. This time the nurse asks, "She doesn't go to school does she?"! Egads!

Long story short: I'd like to humbly apologize to anyone at Max's party who comes down with the pox in about 10 days. I tried to do the responsible thing by asking the Doc, but should have done the more responsibe thing by not bringing her at all. I would be pissed at me if I were you.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you, and you keep your fingers crossed that JB gets no worse. Deal?