Unexpected birthday gifts...

The verdict is in... as predicted by our pediatrician last Wednesday, Giuliana did in fact have Roseol.a last week, in ADDITION to a double ear infection and strep throat. Jeeesh!! It's almost as if she wanted to punctuate her first year of life and how important she is to us.

On day 3 of the high fever, when her ears and throat were looking better from the injected meds... our pediatrician predicted Roseola. She said that if she was right, Giuliana's fever would break Friday'ish and a rash would appear. And, sure enough... Giuliana's fever started to settle more into the low-grade fever range on Thursday just as little dots started to appear on her face and tummy. Then, on Friday, she had rash splotches that took over her tummy and back... a little on her legs, and some on her face.

None of my other kids had R.oseola. So, I had to read up on it on Thursday when I started to see the little dots appear. And, as it turns out, it is most common in babies as they approach age one (most common in babies 9mnths - 12mnths). What a great birthday present, eh? And, it is sort of like Chicken P.ox in that once you get it, you can never get it again. And, you then carry the virus for your lifetime as you do with Chicken Pox. Apparently, the rash doesn't bother the babies at all. And, sure enough, the rash was gone 24 hours later.

I was SO relieved when the fever finally disappeared! I'll take the kiddo with a rash any day.... but the fever.... NO. THANK. YOU!!

Giuliana's other unplanned birthday present this week will be surgery. Yes, she'll be getting tubes put in her little ears. When she was evaluated by ENT last week, her left ear was still filled with fluid and the right ear was half filled, even after the accelerated meds . She just can't get rid of the fluid and it's only a matter of days before the bacteria grows back and causes another ear infection. Such a vicious cycle... ugh!

I have a sneaky suspicion that this inability to rid her ear of the fluids may be the cause of a speech delay. Every noise she hears is distorted. She can say "Mama" and says it often. She also says "Dada" and "Hi"... but not too often. And, she has on occasion said "here" as she hands me something. But, I can already tell she is getting frustrated that she can't communicate and "tell" us what she wants. She'll grab my face or bite my shoulder when she is frustrated. And, I know if she knew the words, she wouldn't be doing this.

Rocco and Matteo had tubes put in at 15 months. Matteo had another ear infection approx 1 month after, but that was incredible at the time because he was getting ear infections almost every other week by the time his tubes were put in. And, Rocco STILL has his tubes in (21mnths post-surgery) and has only had 1 ear infection since.

I have high hopes that tubes will also help our sweet little Giuliana! Wish us luck...