Tuesday, April 26, 2011

6 month family photos, and hives

So it's been another 3 months and I'm behind again. A lot has gone on these last 3 months, but I never seem to get around to posting stuff here. And then it seems the further I get behind, the more difficult it is to catch up. Over the next week, I'm gonna try to catch up by each day posting a little bit of info and pictures from the last 3 months. Today, I'll start where I left off: with Maya's 6 months photos, and a bit of info about when she came down with hives.


6 Month Family Photos

Just like when she turned 3 months old, we wanted to commemorate the occasion by dressing her up and taking some nice posed photo. Also, since we hadn't really done any nice family photos yet, Christina and I dressed up too.











Hives

It was only about a week after Maya turned 6 months (end of January). We went out shopping for a couple of hours. Since it was winter, we had Maya bundled up pretty good. While we were out, she fell asleep in her car seat, so we just let her sleep. When we got home and she woke up, we got her out of the seat and took off her jacket. It was then that I noticed some small red bumps on her tummy. We figured it was just heat rash from being bundled up so good for so long, and within an hour or two it went away, so we figured we were right.

Later that evening, we went to change her diaper, and this time we saw a lot more spots had shown up all around her tummy, and this time just barely spreading onto her legs and arms.



At this point were were wondering what the cause was. Heat rash? Reaction to detergent in clothing? Something to do with a change in her diet? All were possible, but they each didn't quite seem to fit for one reason or another. Still, it didn't really seem like a very serious situation, so we figured nothing to be alarmed about. She wasn't crying, itching, running a fever, or showing any other sort of symptoms. She was behaving completely normally. We figured we'd give her a bath (just in case it was something like a detergent reaction or some other allergen on her skin).

By the next morning, her rash was almost completely gone...just a few little pink spots left. So we went on with the day. Then in the middle of the afternoon, suddenly her rash started coming back. This time it was much worse than before, covering almost her entire body. About the only spot not affected was her face. The spots were now becoming puffy, and some of them were white in the center (almost like giant blisters).









We called the pediatrician via the 24 hour on-call service (it was Sunday). After explaining everything to him and answering his questions, he said it didn't sound like anything to be concerned about, and if it was still there on Monday, we could schedule an appointment.

By the following morning, everything was completely gone. She had not even the slightest sign of the rash, so we didn't make an appointment. When I came home for lunch, she was still fine. Just before I left back for work, she had one small little pimple like bump on her face. Not long after that, it began spreading across her face.



We made an appointment with the pediatrician that day. When he saw it, he said it was nothing to be concerned about. It was Urticaria (a.k.a. hives). He said it could have been any of numerous things that caused it, but most likely was a virus, and it would likely clear itself up within a week. Later that day, the rash spread across more of her head. In addition, she had some swelling below her eye and on the back of her head. I did some research and found that the swelling is called Angioedema, and it often occurs in conjunction with Urticaria.




Swelling at the back, lower portion of her head


Swelling below her eye

By the next day, the rash was once again gone. However, this time it never came back again.


Next Up

As I sit here finishing this blog entry, realizing that it's taken me over 3 hours to write in between taking care of an unusually cranky baby today (she has a cold), I'm remembering why it's been so difficult to keep up on this. However, tomorrow I should be able to post a summary from the rest of month 7.

2 comments:

CZYK Publishing said...

Thanks for the post. I thought my daughter might have hives, but from your post she doesn't! Thanks.

JenniferO said...

Thanks for posting the visual and explanations of coming and going really helps with my baby

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