The Hill and The Baby Measles

Day 1 - Tuesday (May 5)

Hill developed a fever in the evening, and it was a bit high. Ack, thoughts of the H1N1 virus came into mind immediately. I shook the nonsense off and finally decided to believe that she was teething. Of course, she was! Her lower front gums were swollen (as they have been two months since), as in very swollen. I tried massaging it and yes, the gums were hard, and rough - which probably meant one thing: her tiny teeth were about to pop out any time soon.

Gave her paracetamol for the pain and the fever, which eventually subsided in an hour. Her fever spiked up again at dawn, and she was cranky and irritable as ever.

Day 2 - Wednesday (May 6)

She woke up with a smile, but was still warm. She had low fever but was busy moving about, crawling, falling off the mattress (which was four inches thick) to the other mattress (which was two inches thin), grabbing things, trying to sit down, doing full push ups. The fever lasted for the whole day and she was still cranky.

Before we went to sleep, I noticed a rash on her arm. That was okay, I thought. I didn't give her a bath for the day because of her fever, and she usually develops small rashes when she doesn't have a bath (the heat and humidity, darn it!). I also assumed that it was because of her teething, so I simply wiped the part with a wet tissue and rubbed some HOPE (Jar of Hope) on the rash.

Day 3 - Thursday
Hillarie woke up without any signs of fever, but -- aack! Rashes were all over her body. Small, pink spots that reminded me of prickly heat. It made Hill look so bulingit and yagit, which was not exactly my cup of tea. My baby has always been rash free - I have always made sure of that. Unlike babies who easily develop rashes, or develop rashes because of negligence - she doesn't. And seeing her all covered in rashes was so..ew.

We decided to go to the doctor. Before we left, my aunt told me it was measles.
I told her it wasn't.
She told me it was.
I told her it wasn't.

So we betted on it with Ice Cream.

Fast forward to the doctor's clinic. It was Roseola, or baby measles, or hangin - hangin in the vernacular. So my aunt didn't win the bet. Neither did I.

Roseola, or baby measles, is also called the SIXTH DISEASE (pertaining to the six diseases on the skin that babies acquire - who ever uses that term nowadays?). Anyway, the rashes only appear once the fever has subsided, and there's nothing else that we could do except to wait for the rashes to subside.


Thankfully, Roseola rashes ARE NOT ITCHY. Filipino superstition tells us to swat the rashes with the mother's hair, so it will subside, which, of course, I did not follow. My hair hasn't been shampooed in two days, what if it makes worsens the rashes?!

Roseola spreads through contact with another person's saliva or respiratory secretions (so no more kisses for Hill!!!), but it usually affects children only. Unlike measles and other viral infections that are super scary and deadly, Roseola is typically mild, and does not require any medication, except for the accompanying fever.

Day 4 - Friday

Hillarie doesn't have fever anymore, and she's back to her usual likot self. Still has rashes all over her, and she looks more yagit than ever and yeah, still no teeth. :-)