Searching for chicken pox in Ann Arbor, MI

[Rachel502]

Hey folks,
A group of us live in a wonderful cohousing community in Ann Arbor, MI, and are in search of chicken pox for our children. Please let me know if you know of anyone willing to share their pox with our children! Thanks!! :o

[kittygrrl523]

I'm not sure if I can post this here or not...I don't know anyone with pox, I am just intrigued as to what you mean by "cohousing community." Good luck finding the pox and i hope the little angels don't get too itchy!!!

[dancingmama]

Oooh, me too, me too! I'm in Ann Arbor and also in search of Chicken Pox. If you find them, will you let me know?

[ani'smommy]

:lol I'm in Grand Rapids in a co-housing community and I want chicken pox, too!

[doulamom7]

same here, we are in Monroe and I will travel :lol

We thought we found someone with them a few weeks ago, turned out it was just bugs bites :irked: darn it!!

[tripleblessed]

Just curious...why?? I assume it's because you don't vax and want your children to get them now instead of later? Does anyone else worry about that? Not vaxing and having you child get the pox as an adult? I'm torn...

Karen

[Cinder]

Oooh, me too, me too! I'm in Ann Arbor and also in search of Chicken Pox. If you find them, will you let me know?

Me too!

[Caden's Mom]

Isn't it getting late into the season to be getting the pox? Not that it couldn't happen but I thought someone told me it was a late fall/winter/early spring sort of deal? However, if anyone finds anyone, let me know! :lol

[doulamom7]

hmmm...I am not sure when they are supposed to be in *season* actualy *LOL*

Karen, yes I want my kids to have them now...

when you grow up and get them they are worse...and they are SHINGLES. :( not good!!

I vax'ed my 2 older kids with this (before I researched the topic) and the bad thing is, it wears OFF when they are older...my dd might be expecting her first baby when she gets them.

ugh dumb vax's!!

[StillForest]

Count us in too! We're also in A2 and have friends in that wonderful cohousing community. DH isn't into it or I'd certainly be in a cohousing community. Anyway, let's use this thread to alert one another if any of us meets anyone in the greater A2 area with chicken pox. ;-)

I'm actually concerned about the quality/duration of the immunity conferred by the vax. I haven't heard of any longer-term studies examining the duration of immunity after vaxing. Getting the checken pox would provide much better quality/duration of immunity. We've got a big natural (though here would call it an "unnatural" experiment....) experiment going on. I wonder if the prevalence of chicken pox/shingles will be high amongst vaxed children as they age. Vaccine was developed for corporate profit under the guise of "parental convenience."

[joliara]

Almost 2 months since the last reply... anyone had luck? If not, I'm subbing to this thread! I'm definitely willing to travel to A2 if anyone breaks out! :)

[courtenay_e]

Oh, me too, I'm about an hour north of you all, and more than willing to travel!!!! I'll sub.

[hottmama]

Me too!

[bryonyvaughn]

I assist teaching homeopathy classes so I have contacts with lots of moms ISO chicken pox. I've given vaccine talks in Mt. Pleasant, Newago, Rockford, Greenville, Lansing, and Durand so I might get leads that require a little travel.

My oldest child got chicken pox inadvertently from the church nursery when he was 19mo. He only had two pox and my then 6mo solely BFing daughter didn't get them. As I've pursued chicken pox actively for the past seven years, it's been my observation, contrary to the statements by the CDC and other HCPs, that chicken pox is MOST contagious before the pox break out and *very* difficult to spread between break out and crusting over. IME the only successful transfers happened before the pox parties and broke out after. :(

That being said I'm subbing, will pass on leads, and will *definitely* let everyone know if my children haven't broken out but were exposed to children who later did.

Be well,
BV

P.S. I normally think of CP as a spring thing (sometimes late winter as a PP stated) but it's the fall CP that has by far the highest rate of vaccine strain CP. I've seen too many funky and entrenched (up to 3 mos) cases to intentionally expose my children to the vaccine strain.

[bryonyvaughn]

ARGH!! Sub didn't take.

[because]

Oy, I never searched for "chickenpox" as two words! DD is just crusting over now but we would have been happy to share! If DS gets them next week, I'll post here. I'm doubting it, though, since he's still nursing and has managed to avoid it twice already. I do know where to find it near Grosse Pointe, though. :lol

[because]

As promised... DS has spots! He sprouted about 6 today (16-ish days after his sister was contagious), no blisters yet. PM if you're interested.

[dancingmama]

Aaaarrrghhhhh.... I SOOOO want to expose my kiddos. But dd1 is starting kindergarten, and I would just hate for her to have to miss her first day(s).

If anyone else gets CP from because's kiddos, and spots show up in a couple of weeks, can we keep the chain going??? I'd expose then.

Thanks!

[StillForest]

I have the same concern..... Would just love to expose DD but don't want her to miss her first days of first grade. Let us know if you find a way to keep the chain going. Thanks!

[hottmama]

ARGH! Me too! We're going on vacation from this Friday through Sept. 3, then my son starts kindergarten on the 5th... but I would LOVE to expose him in a few weeks if anyone else has it then.
Sheesh after looking for 2 years it couldn't come at a less convenient time! I'm tempted to just say screw it and let him have the pox on vacation!

[hottmama]

Bumping, since the pox seems to be making the MDC rounds in other parts of the country and we're still looking!

[hottmama]

My kids just had some CP lollipops so hopefully they'll have it in a 2-3 weeks.

[because]

Hey, congratulations!

It took two tries to get pox for DD and three tries for DS. Lollipops and shared drink bottles didn't work. I think it was the playing under a parachute, getting a direct sneeze, and sharing a bath that finally got the ball rolling at our house.

You might share the wealth over on the Motheringartsannarbormichigan yahoo group - they were looking for them, I think. Or was it the babywearers? Lots of cross-over so it could be anyone!

Once your LOs are itchy, we found oatmeal baths (real oatmeal in a sock, no Aveeno necessary) and homeopathic rhus tox to really help. Good luck!

[636Jen]

We'll come over for a playdate! Let me know please! :D


:thumb

[StillForest]

Great! I've been looking for them for a while. Could we meet your family for a playdate or lollipop if your DCs get them? Funny how CP seems to arrive in A2 at the end of the summer right before school starts. One of the last rounds of CP that I heard of arrived a week and a half before school started.

[jackie75]

I'm in Garden City, but interested!

[tripleblessed]

Can someone help me on this question? I have a friend coming over tomorrow for a playdate - she just called and said her children were exposed to the pox on Friday. Will they be contagious to my children tomorrow? I'm all for getting the pox, but am a little nervous since we are going on a long planned trip at the beginning of Sept. - I really don't want it then! What do you think?

[redpajama]

Can someone help me on this question? I have a friend coming over tomorrow for a playdate - she just called and said her children were exposed to the pox on Friday. Will they be contagious to my children tomorrow? I'm all for getting the pox, but am a little nervous since we are going on a long planned trip at the beginning of Sept. - I really don't want it then! What do you think?

I'd say probably not. The incubation period for chicken pox is between 10 and 21 days, and I believe that a child with chicken pox is contagious beginning a few days before they break out and continuing until their spots have scabbed over. So if they were exposed Friday, the soonest they should be breaking out is *next* Monday, in which case they could be contagious as early as, say, this Friday-or-so.

(I've been doing lots of thinking about this because my kids were exposed alongside hottmama's last week, and we have friends and neighbors who *don't* want us to share.)

[la mamita]

I'd like to get my son exposed to CP. We're in Ann Arbor, if anyone has it or knows someone who has it, post here or on motheringarts or PM me, please!

[hottmama]

Ok, either my 5 yr. old has chickenpox or he was attacked by a swarm of mosquitoes as he slept last night (in the same bed as his brother, who so far has no bumps). I'm assuming it's chickenpox but I should know for sure tomorrow.
If anyone wants to come by, he'll probably be contagious for the next week. And I'm hoping my little guy breaks out soon, because I'd really rather not have one poxy kid now and one in 2 weeks, but since he hasn't shown signs yet, there'll be a little extra length of contagion at least.
PM me to set up a playdate.

[tnrsmom]

Oooh, this may be our last chance to get them before school starts!! Now would be a perfect time. I will PM you later. Would you mind if I brought all 4 over though? I would love them all to get it at the same time rather than 1 after another due to school.

[SunRayeMomi]

:fingersx:

[hottmama]

Oooh, this may be our last chance to get them before school starts!! Now would be a perfect time. I will PM you later. Would you mind if I brought all 4 over though? I would love them all to get it at the same time rather than 1 after another due to school.

Oh yeah, no problem!
It's definitely the pox. He had 20 this morning and has 40 now (!!!). He's in good spirits but I won't let them outside because some of our neighbors don't want their little ones exposed, so anyone who wants to come over to play is welcome! He isn't sneezing or coughing, but he'd be happy to lick suckers, straws, hold hands, breathe on, etc. any interested parties.

[636Jen]

Awesome! Mind if I call you next week?



:love

[hottmama]

Awesome! Mind if I call you next week?



:love

Go for it! He should be nice and contagious until at least Wednesday. And hopefully Luka will get with the CP program soon!
Tomorrow, Monday, or Wednesday are best for me.

[jackie75]

CRUD. We are going camping in two weeks, so I think we'll have to wait. Who ever gets them next, please post! :D

[mama2landon]

Oh yeah, no problem!
It's definitely the pox. He had 20 this morning and has 40 now (!!!). He's in good spirits but I won't let them outside because some of our neighbors don't want their little ones exposed, so anyone who wants to come over to play is welcome! He isn't sneezing or coughing, but he'd be happy to lick suckers, straws, hold hands, breathe on, etc. any interested parties.

Is almost 2 (21 months) a safe age for chicken pox? I've heard people say littler ones tend to deal with them better then say elementary school age. Mine is still BFing a lot- do you think he would have a chance to actually catch them? I'm in northern michigan- quite a long haul to A2, but I'd be willing to drive pretty much anywhere in MI, even with gas prices so high. :o

[jackie75]

:bump:

[redpajama]

Is almost 2 (21 months) a safe age for chicken pox? I've heard people say littler ones tend to deal with them better then say elementary school age. Mine is still BFing a lot- do you think he would have a chance to actually catch them? I'm in northern michigan- quite a long haul to A2, but I'd be willing to drive pretty much anywhere in MI, even with gas prices so high. :o

My 21-month-old is just getting over chicken pox (I'm quite sure she's no longer contagious, or I'd invite you out), and she's had such a mild case that it took me several days to even believe that was what it was. She never seemed sick or feverish--had a few little scratching/fussing spells in her sleep, but otherwise totally fine--and probably only had 50 or so spots. At first I thought she had just gotten a few different-looking mosquito bites, but then they began multiplying, and she got a few in places that I *knew* she hadn't been bitten by a mosquito (labia, butt, et cetera), and although she wasn't scratching them, many of them eventually scabbed over.

Anyway, all that to say that while it's purely anecdotal, she had a super-easy and mild case!