Chickenpox Nostalgia Is Real—And Really Dangerous

[laundry_queen]

29. It was opposite with my kids

My oldest had 1 pox above and beyond the amount you need for immunity (I can't remember the amount...25? 50?) so barely any, and most were on her back. Only one on her face. My middle child had hundreds and my youngest (at the time) had so many I stopped counting. She had 100 on her face, easily. And she was still breastfeeding at the time!

Oddly enough, even though she, by far, had the mildest case my oldest was the one who constantly complained about the itching, while my other 2 acted like they weren't even sick. They hardly scratched at all and played together all day like nothing was wrong.

All 3 did scar though, which is strange since I had a really bad case at age 3 and didn't scar at all. You can't notice it though unless they get a bit of a tan, then you can see faint white spots on their back.

My 4th child was born after the vaccine became available and she did get the vaccine. Honestly, though, I was lucky - I didn't find chicken pox that bad at all, except for the scarring (but I'm not one of those people who is like "zomg! You have a MARK on your face, hideous!" like my mother is - you should've heard her after my daughter needed stitches on her forehead...she wanted to call in a plastic surgeon) I also remember when I had chicken pox, and I do remember scratching, but it was during the summer and I was at my grandparent's farm so my mom wasn't sure I was scratching from the pox or the sandfly bites, LOL. She also said I didn't act sick at all.

Another weird thing that may have contributed to my oldest having a mild case - she was exposed numerous times and didn't catch it. I mean sharing sippy cups with her toddler friend exposed...then I babysat 2 kids who had active cases during the most virulent time (right before and during the rash)...then she had a kid sneeze on her who came down sick the next day...my daughter never caught it. I wonder if she had a small subclinical infection that gave her some immunity which made her full blown case more mild later on. I dunno.