Strep in the House

It began with Addison last weekend and has now spread to Alivia and Asher...strep throat.

Addison went back to school on Wednesday and has been fine since. Yesterday, Thursday, Alivia complained of a sore throat when she woke up. But, I took her temperature and she did not have a fever. Alivia rarely complains, so I did take her seriously. With that said, I can not keep her home for every little scratchy throat. So, I gave her a little Motrin for her sore throat and sent her to school. I did tell her that if it got worse to go to the nurse, and I would come right up and get her. I was more worried than normal because Addison had strep earlier in the week and because Alivia was having a sleepover Thursday night (the girls are out of school Friday and Monday).

At noon, Asher and I went up to school to check in on Alivia. She was eating lunch with her friends and said she felt fine. Huh. Guess it was nothing.

Asher, meanwhile, developed this strange case of hives on Wednesday night. They were all over and itchy. He did have some soy crackers, so I thought maybe they were the cause. He did not have a fever. Thursday morning the hives seemed better and he acted fine, still without a fever. So, Asher and I went off to the YMCA for a bit. He was still fine. I noticed his hives coming back, creeping up his neck into his hairline, just before lunch. I took his temp; still no fever. Hum. What is this?! After lunch we were playing trucks and out of nowhere he had an accident. Asher is 4 and just does not have accidents unless something is wrong. He was crying and I knew something had changed. Now he had a low grade fever.

Sleepover was off.

We drove to pick up the girls and the girls were mad about the sleepovers being cancelled. They both stomped to their rooms to pout. Nice, eh? I went up to check on Alivia and found her snoring in bed. I took her temp and it was 102. She finally admitted to having a sore throat. Come on! She was going to deny it until I allowed the sleepover?!

Come to find out, both Alivia and Asher have strep. Hives can occur due to the strep virus. Huh, I did not know that?! Yes, I know, I am a nurse, but I do not recall seeing hives associated with strep when I worked around sick kids every day. Learn something new every day.

So, Addison and Asher are on their 10 days of antibiotics and Alivia is on her own non penicillin 10 days of medications (Alivia has a penicillin allergy). This is Asher's first antibiotic since he was one! So, he has been a challenge to give Benedryl, Motrin and antibiotic. He even vomited it all up on me the first dose. That was nice.

So, our little weekend vacation will be quiet, at least until they all are on the mend. Then, I am going to bleach my house!

Hope they feel better soon!

Ouch! These look so itchy! He itched it until he had bleeding scratches. Poor thing.

Sad hives boy.

Itchy hives.

Alivia, camped in her room with Pippa and her iPod touch.

Asher looks dopey here, but you can see the hives/rash on his head/eyes.