Dexter didn't magically get better after seeing the doctor. His fever broke on Wednesday and then Friday he got the telltale rash of Roseola. It's a virus that causes high fevers for around 3 days and then after the fever resolves, a rash appears on the torso. Dexter's rash covers his entire torso - front and back and up his neck. He's still really fussy and irritable. I gave him his pacifier to suck on because I was tired of hearing him whine and that's the only way to get some peace and quiet. All he wants to do is be held by mommy. My arms are tired, I'm tired, and I hope he gets better soon. It's definitely worse today than it was yesterday. The only way he's happy is either I'm holding him, we go for a walk outside or he's asleep.
Unfortunately, I exposed a whole lot of babies to it because I thought he was over it. We went to the local library's singing group on Thursday morning. There were probably 30 kids there. I'm not sure if he was contagious at that point because his fever was gone. I feel really guilty about taking Dex to it now. I honestly thought he was better. He wasn't quite himself, but that often happens after being sick a few days. I didn't know he was working on developing a horrible rash over 60% of his little body!
I also went to the zoo on Friday, but apparently when the rash appears, it's no longer contagious. I thought it was possibly an allergic reaction to soap because I had just given him a bath that morning when I saw the rash. Normally, I give him a bath at night, so I thought maybe I just hadn't ever seen the rash because it cleared up overnight. It didn't clear up, and the doctor called in the afternoon to follow up from Wednesday's visit. I mentioned the rash and he said that was common. He didn't say Roseola, but I recalled reading about it at some point, so I Googled it. Dexter has it for sure. The fever, the rash, everything is the exact same. Now I just hope no one else catches it.
