missing in action

for my regular gmail chatmates, i was indeed MIA these past 2 days. as you may have guessed, i wasn't feeling well, i did not survive :(

i developed rashes all over my body. i was worried that it might be a symptom of German measles, which i know is deadly to the fetus. it can sometimes lead to miscarriage, deafness, heart diseases etc. this i cannot bear to happen to my own baby. so, my hubby and i immediately went to our OB for a check up.

our doctor said that she cannot immediately rule-out German measles. though the rashes is one symptom of German measles, it is not really indicative of being positive to rubella virus. it is usually accompanied with slight fever and commonly disappears after 3 days. and the development of rashes usually start at the face down to the feet and other extremities, that's why it's called the "marching rash". mine was different, i first saw the rashes in my feet then it crawled up to my body (back & belly) and i saw none at the face. plus the fact that i have no fever and it's more than 3 days now and i still have the rashes and it certainly doesn't look like it's waning.

another OB told me that the development of rashes is typical to pregnant women. she eased our worries by saying confidently that what i have is not German measles because i have no fever, no inflammation on the lining of the eyelids and i don't have swollen lymph nodes.

still, it is better to be safe than sorry, both OB's recommeded that i undergo blood tests for rubella IGG and IGM viruses. one of these will tell if the virus is recent and the other will tell if it's an old infection. the results will be released in 2 days time.

up to now, we still don't know the cause of the red spots. but it's damn itchy, it disturbs my sleep (and hubby's as well - bah, damay-damay na- hehe). i was just advised to watch my diet because i may have developed an allergy to certain food, to avoid foods that are high in protein (eggs, peanuts etc), to apply chamomile to lessen the itchiness and if i can't take the itchiness anymore, i can take the OB-recommended anti-histamine.