The Family *roll

Last week, when Emily picked Eleanor up from daycare, she (Eleanor) looked wrecked. She had bags under her eyes and a general look of sadness which no amount of silly dancing, singing, noise-making etc. could change. “Clearly,” we thought, “she has picked up the bug Emily had a few days earlier.”

For two days she was a sad, but not a mad or fussy, little girl. She just looked totally drained. It was so pathetic that at one point I remarked that I would rather she cried and screamed when sick than sit there silently, looking so glum. Be careful what you wish for. Day three of the illness brought the ceaseless screaming. She woke up screaming and would continue for as much as an hour regardless of anything we did. And then, for apparently no reason, she would stop and return to her usual smiley self. Odd. It was at about this time that her fever broke so we were really quite puzzled over what could be upsetting her so much. And then the spots appeared:

Roseola. According to the experts, the rash is not aggravating. Perhaps that’s true. But according to the message boards and our own experience, Roseola brings with it some serious fussiness. She seems to be over it now.

“Roseola”. What a lovely name for an illness. So much better than, say, herpes which just sounds like something you never want to have. But “roseola”? Sure — I’ll take that. It sounds calming. What’s that you say? Roseola is herpes? That’s right. Our baby has herpes. For whatever reason, Emily and I found this very amusing (Emily now delights in calling Eleanor “herpetic.”). We even took a picture and posted it on Facebook with the caption “Baby’s First Herpes.” “This will get a laugh” we thought. But not a thing. Not a “like”, not a comment, not nuthin’. People weren’t touching our herpes-baby update.

Maybe people don’t find the idea of a baby having herpes as amusing as we do? Well here’s the dish people: you also have herpes. Basically, everyone on earth has the strain of herpes that causes Roseola by the time they’re 5. Babies who get it early are immune for about 6 months of their life and then, past about 2 years they develop immunity. That leaves the 18 month window where, for whatever reason, some babies will get a full-blown case of Roseola if they have the virus by that point. That’s our girl.

So, dear reader: you have herpes. And if you have a baby, s/he probably has it too. So there. Now laugh dammit!

In other news, daycare today was a complete success. Eleanor took two long naps and played happily with the other kids. We can also report that we have now experienced a couple no-wake-up nights. Last night she delivered 12.5 hours of continuous sleep . Hallelujah!

Eleanor had her first day of daycare on Tuesday from 7:30 to 5. She did some life-sustaining combination of eating and sleeping and came home happy and surprisingly well-rested. I spent the day studying, lunching with Dan, cleaning and trying not to wake her up – I kept assuming she wasn’t with me since she was sleeping. I was unloading the dishwasher and dropped a dish and thought “Gak, I’ll wake the baby,” completely forgetting she’s a mile away. Since I kept thinking she was sleeping, I didn’t spend too much time missing her or dwelling on the Great Abandoning. However, when we picked her up at 5, it hit me how much I had missed her and wanted nothing more than to hold her very tight. She was very excited to see me, too, and reached out for me which was pretty heartbreaking.

Today was much more difficult. I (foolishly) hung around a bit after arriving and so was there to see and hear her scream when I put on my coat and left. It was awful and it (at least for the past hour) has made it impossible to think she’s simply napping upstairs.

But the abandonment must continue. I have my first full day of classes in Mankato next Thursday and already a pretty long lists of readings and assignments to start thinking about. So far, I’m really pleased with the program. The syllabi seem well put together and the readings are pretty stimulating. I love being back and school and studying stuff that I genuinely care about. There’s something very satisfying about learning how to do something you already do (nursing), better (advanced practice nursing).

Late Entry Note: When I picked Ellie up, she was barely smiling and looked like she had been left in a snowbank – pale, racoon-eyed and slouchy. She puked in the car on the way to pick up Dan and refused to eat dinner. She has a rectal temp of 102.6. It wasn’t daycare, though: it was me, typhoid Mommy (I have a cold, too). She’s sleeping soundly now and breastfed before falling asleep so I hope she’s not too badly off. Not a particularly auspicious start to our first week of daycare, however.