Marco had R.oseola

Well... we just finished up another really fun experience with Ro.seola.

R.oseola is one of those great viruses that can’t really be diagnosed until the end of the illness, when the rash appears on the fifth day (day 5 of fever). Out of our five children, only Giuliana and Marco have had Ro.seola. It might be one of my least favorite viruses, because the child has a consistent fever for 5 days. And, for two of those days the fever likes to spike above 104, even though you have the baby on what seems like a steady dose of either ace.taminophen or ibupro.fren. The most frustrating part is that you can't figure out what is causing the fever until the child finally gets the rash on day 5.


Rose.ola decided to hit Marco last Tuesday night. Dan was traveling Monday - Thursday so it was already chaos central around here. Marco woke up crying around 11:15pm on Tuesday, and he felt warm to my lips so I took his temperature and it was just under 100. I gave him some ibupro.fren and brought him into bed with me and he nursed a bit around midnight. But, he did not sleep well at all. He woke up frequently throughout the night crying and he wouldn’t nurse anymore which was VERY unusual for him since nursing was his main source of soothing.


Wednesday delivered a full day of fever activity, and a continued nursing strike. Wednesday also happens to be my craziest day with the kids between school drop-offs, pick-ups and evening activities. Marco’s fever had me on edge a bit because it was already 101.3 at 10am…so I knew it was going to be a long day of switching between ibu.profren and acet.aminophen. It was also very strange to me that he was continuing to not nurse (well… strange AND painful).


We visited the pediatrician on Monday for Marco. I thought he might have an ear infection because he was waking up, crying, frequently through the night on Sunday night. However, he received a clean bill of health – no ear infection or strep, and his lungs were clear. I know ear infections can develop in a matter of hours.

Marco was so uncomfortable all day on Wednesday. He was fussy. He didn’t want to play. He just wanted to be in my arms, and even then he was whiny. He also wouldn’t walk around at all, instead, he would choose to crawl if he had any desire to move around at all. Poor baby! This made the day extra challenging for me because I was the only adult in the house, prepping meals, cleaning up after meals, helping the 3 yr old w/the potty chair, etc., all with a sick baby in my arms. I also couldn’t get him to take one decent nap, even though he was so tired. Not to mention… he still wasn’t nursing! So, my breasts were getting engorged (and hurting!) and I couldn’t get him to even entertain the idea of nursing. I knew it was time to dig the breast pump out of the garage… the last thing I needed was to get sick myself with m.astitis.

Finally, I was able to put Marco down to sleep at 8:30pm. I quickly got the other kids situated in bed, cleaned up after the kids, checked homework, ate dinner and then tried to pump. The pumping was not very successful since I was so engorged. I was now at the point where I couldn’t touch my chest without it being painful. Good times. I also knew that it was only going to get worse unless I could release some of that milk.

The pumping was interrupted by Marco, who woke up crying and so hot again by 10:15pm. His fever was 103.5. I think I may have had a mini-panic-attack at some point here… mapping mapping out my plan of action for what to do if I had to run him to the ER w/all 4 kids in tow, all the while holding him close to me, and that being extremely painful because of my engorged breasts. So, I sent Dan a text and asked him if he could possibly come home any earlier from his business trip.

I assumed that Marco and I would soon both fall asleep, so I set my phone alarm for every hour during the night so I could check on him. Well, funny thing is that I didn't even need to set the alarm because we NEVER WENT TO SLEEP. My poor little baby was SO uncomfortable and sick that he could not sleep. I spent hours walking with him in my arms, while he was screaming and kicking. Just as he would calm down and I would think he had dozed off, I would try to sit in the rocking chair and he would start wailing again. I tried singing, humming, rhythmic bouncing him in my arms, and I tried nursing him numerous times. I could not do anything to make him happy. I wanted to cry myself!

To add to the fun, just as Marco started dozing off, Gabby came running into my room at 5am crying about how her throat hurt. I was so spent at this point I think I told her to “stop crying, drink some water and go back to bed!” Ugh!

Finally, at 5:15am he fell asleep. OY! Somehow, I was able to hold him in my arms while propping up some pillows in my bed, and strategically maneuvered a position for me to hold him while hopefully also allowing me to get a little sleep. I was exhausted. And, in 1.5 hours the other kids would be waking up for the day with *bouncing-off-the-walls* energy. JOY!!

Thursday brought another full day of high fevers, even though we remained on a pretty constant regimen of the fever reducing meds. He hit 103.5 at 4:50am and 104.5 at 2pm. Dan was a total gem and able to take an earlier flight home to help me out. He got home around 2pm and once we were able to get Marco’s fever down again, I was off to try every trick in the book to express milk from my hurting breasts! (for more on that – read the next blog post, NURSING STRIKE)

By Thursday night, I think I finally started getting more control of Marco’s fever. His temperature would finally go down to 98.6 after being on meds, and it would sit there or be close to normal for a few hours at a time. His eyelids seemed to be a little swollen, and he was still fussy and needed to be constantly held. But, at least we had the fever under control.

Friday brought another day of a needy/fussy baby. He still had what seemed like swollen eyelids. He was showing more interest in *wanting* to play for short spurts at a time, but still didn’t necessarily have the energy to truly play. He just wanted momma to hold him most of the day. It was SO great to have Dan home to help out with the other kids too, so I could focus solely on Marco for the majority of the day. Dan also let me sleep in Friday morning since I was borderline insane at this point.

Saturday, Marco seemed a bit more like his normal, happy, content and playful self. But, he still had a little fever, and then I noticed Marco had developed a little rash on his tummy. Aha!! So, I looked at his back and sure enough, the rash was present there also. I immediately knew it had to be Ros.eola… because Giuliana had this! I looked up the symptoms and sure enough, he presented numerous classic symptoms... high spiking fever for 5 days, swollen eyelids, diarrhea, and a rash on the trunk on day 5.

Sunday morning, Dan and I were both relieved to see our little guy walking around, screeching with excitement, wanting to play and being curious. No fever, and no new symptoms. What a relief! The rash was a little more visible on his trunk and it looked uncomfortable and itchy, but I read he would most likely not be bothered by it (and he didn’t seem to notice).

To say I am NOT a fan of having a sick infant is an understatement. We've been so lucky with Marco so far being extremely healthy. I mean - he's really only had one ear infection, and now this. That's pretty amazing considering he has 3 older siblings constantly bringing germs home with them.

Angel Matteo is doing a great job watching over his little brother.