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!