Hello from Singapore! It’s been a little quiet on the blog recently, because baby was sick again, and we were preparing for our short ‘holiday’ in Singapore. C has to attend some training in Singapore, and needed to clear some leave anyway, so here we are!
Our trip home wasn’t without any drama though. C has been down with the flu for some time, then Noah started sneezing and coughing, and we were pretty sure he had gotten the bug from C, until some spots appeared on his face. They weren’t red spots, just two little flesh-coloured bumps, on his forehead. Our friend D is a doctor, and we happened to meet him, so he took a look at the spots for us. He said they looked unusual, but if they haven’t increased in size, or changed in any way, all we could do was just observe them until something changed. Noah didn’t seem bothered by them at all, and didn’t even scratch them, so we weren’t too worried about them.
Spot the spots
A few more spots sprung up the next morning, so I just kept applying lavender oil on them to try and get rid of them. The oil worked well on my insect bites a few weeks ago, so I thought I’d use them on Noah too. On Tuesday night, we started worrying that it was chickenpox, because Noah had a slight fever in the afternoon, which cleared up after I gave him some paracetamol. Google Images showed a huge variety of chickenpox spots, some of which looked like what Noah had, and we decided to bring him to see a GP the next morning. We also started talking about our options for our trip to Singapore, should he really be down with chickenpox. That night, Noah couldn’t sleep well because of his blocked nose, and when I nursed him, he would whine and scratch the spots on his forehead.
The spots
By the time he woke up on Wednesday morning, some of the spots had been scratched so much that they were bleeding. I checked his health booklet, which showed that he had his chickenpox vaccination when he was a year old, but when I called the clinic in Singapore to check, I learnt that he needed two doses of it. However, our PD was kind enough to respond to my frantic email, sent the night before, and told me that the chances of him getting chickenpox was less than 20%. The GP we saw that morning wasn’t sure what the spots were, and as they were all on his face, apart from the one on the back of his hand, it was still possible that they were insect bites. He had a slight temperature, blocked nose, and slight cough, all of which could have been from his germ-sharing dad. The GP took a swab of some of the spots, including those that were bleeding after he had scratched them, and sent them off to the lab for testing. The test would take at least 24 hours, and she said she would call me in the morning.
To cut an already long story short, the test results finally came back at 530pm the next day, and it was negative for the varicella virus, aka chickenpox. Thank God that our prayers were answered! The GP said they were probably insect bites, and even emailed us a letter stating that he tested negative for chickenpox, because I was worried that the airport staff might not allow him to fly with those suspicious looking spots. The clinic also emailed me a copy of his test results, and I must say that our experiences with Globe Medical so far have all been pretty good. We’ve been there a few times for different illnesses, and it’s the only clinic in the city that gives us an appointment with the doctor on the same day I call. Everywhere else requires me to wait for at least a day, which is something that I’m really not used to.
We had to go to the airport fairly early the next morning, but Noah woke up willingly when I asked him if he wanted to go on an aeroplane, even though he had slept really late the night before. He was running around excitedly in the airport, and didn’t even nap for more than half an hour on the flight! C and I were really tired, and kept asking each other how we would survive a flight to the US (we’re thinking of going to the US later this year, when C has his training there).
Excited baby boy at the airport
Anyway, we’re back home now, although after being away for about seven months, it does feel a little odd. Noah, for one, is very disoriented, and doesn’t seem to really remember that this IS his home. When I was bathing last night, he asked C for ‘mummy mummy mummy’, and when C told him that I was in the toilet bathing, he stared at C for a while, then ran around the house, to all the wrong places, to look for the toilet. Haha. My mum suggested that we give him an orientation tour of the house, when I told her about it last night. When he woke up for milk last night, he seemed very scared, and kept whining for ‘mummy’, even though I was right next to him. Good thing I let him co-sleep with us again, instead of putting him in his cot, or he would probably have freaked out even more.
It’s good to be home though, especially when our house is so nice and clean, thanks to my mum who has been coming over to pack and clean up the entire house, so that Noah all of us can rest well once we got back. Have a blessed Easter weekend, everyone!
PS. I might not be blogging much over these few days, because we’ll be very busy EATING, and meeting up with family and friends. Can’t wait!
*******
If you’ve enjoyed reading this post, do like my Facebook page here to get updates. You can also follow me on Twitter (@GrowingwtheTans), Instagram (@GrowingwiththeTans), and Dayre (@GrowingwiththeTans), for short updates on what’s going on in our lives. Thank you! 🙂
Comments