Scarletina

The past few days we have been dealing with fever and sore throats in the family. It was amazing how fast they came up too. Sunday I took the kids to church and everything was normal. Owen was running around in nursery causing the teachers all sorts of grief. There was no sign of what was to come.

When we got home from church I made Owen his favorite lunch, Macaroni and Cheese. He didn't want to eat any of it. That should have been a sign. Then he went and laid down to take a nap on his own. That was strange, but it wasn't until he woke up from his nap with a fever that we figured out something was wrong. All through the night he was burning up, and I couldn't sleep well knowing he was so sick. Then my throat started to hurt.

Luckily for us Owen had his 30 month Well Child Visit with the Pediatrician on Monday morning! Monday morning he woke up and his face was flushed red (see picture above) and he had tiny red bumps all over his body. Yikes! So off we went to the doctor to find out what was wrong with him. I had visions of Swine Flu floating though my head. My visions were totally off though. The doctor took one look at his rash and said, "He's got a sore throat too." She told me that the rash was caused by the sore throat, and that he officially had Scarletina. Scarletina is a mild version on Scarlett Fever. She prescribed him some penicillin and told me he would be better in a few days.

We picked up the penicillin on the way home, and that's when the real fun started, trying to convince Owen that he needed to swallow the penicillin. Owen is quite strong when he doesn't want to swallow something. I think I ended up with more of the penicillin in my mouth from him spitting it back out at me. He can clench his teeth together very well too. I tried giving it to him in juice and applesauce, but nothing worked. I think he must have gotten about 1/2 of his dose actually down his throat. But amazingly enough a few hours later he was running around like nothing was wrong. After 2 more fights of trying to get him to take his medicine and the last time failing completely I called the doctor. She decided to switch him to amoxicillin. So we picked that up, and I didn't have much more luck. He still has to have 19 more dose of amoxicillin. This could be an interesting 10 days! Anybody have any good ideas on how to get a 2 year old to take his medicine? I think the experience with the penicillin didn't really help.

Today I wen to the doctor and found out I also have strep throat...Yippee! The doctor said babies usually don't get it though, so hopefully Holly will stay nice and healthy. She would probably be easier to give medicine to though! Oh well, wish us luck.

Oh yeah...Owen is now 38 inches tall and weighs 31 lbs (he's grown 4 inches and gained 3 lbs since December).