Chickenpox at The Nut House

It is interesting how the littlest things can change everything about my day, and even my week.

Yesterday afternoon I noticed that Little Nut Nut had a chicken pox blister on his neck. I watched it for a few hours to make sure, but by the time I figured out it was actually chickenpox there was not really much I could do about it. He has tested positive for an allergy to milk protein, but passed the milk challenge. Milk just gives him a mild case of eczema, mostly he has small little bumps all over his body, that you don’t normally see unless he eats lots of cheese, like when we have pizza for dinner or he has cheese and crackers as a snack, or if he eats a whole container of yogurt. So it is really hard to tell if the bumps are going to turn into blisters or if they are due to his slight milk allergy. I think I am going to have to keep him off of all dairy for the next few days and once the bumps from that settle down it will be easier to tell if it will turn into a blister or not. With any luck, he will be over the chickenpox before the eczema settles down.

My 2 older Nuts have already had it, so I know that at the moment only 2 Nuts in my house could actually get it. All of my Nuts have had their chickenpox vaccines, so the very mild case that my older Nuts had gives me hope that this will be a mild case for every one involved.

I have been worrying about Owain, my littlest Wee Nut. With his single ventricle, that makes him more susceptible to respiratory distress associated with heart defects and chickenpox. So far though, not a single blister on him…good news there. So far, that just means that he doesn’t have it yet. There is still a chance he could get it, I am hoping that he doesn’t. We just have to watch him for junkieness in his chest, coughing or pulling to breathe.

I had to reschedule my Midwife appointment that I had this morning, with hopes that I can actually go to the appointment on Friday and that this whole chickenpox thing will blow over. I just hope that I don’t end up with shingles! Every little itch and every little bump I find sends me running to a mirror to check for blisters. The midwife that I talked to this morning said that if I get shingles, that it could be very painful…not what I was hoping to hear, but I am glad for the warning. She also said that there is something that she can give me that is safe to take, I will just have to make that decision if the time comes.

It seems that the littlest Nut, the baby in the belly is very safe for the moment. Most likely, when I had the chickenpox as a kid I created immunity for the new Pea-Nut that will last throughout the last days of my pregnancy and for 1-2 months after delivery. I am very hopeful that the new Pea-Nut will be born with a good dose of immunity from me.

So here we are with the waiting game. Waiting the week out with hopes that Little Nut Nut doesn’t get any more and hoping that Owee doesn’t get it at all. For now, the plans for the library and the park are put on hold, so I guess it is more cleaning and organizing to get ready for the littlest Pea-Nut and for the next step for the addition.