The Mystery Rash

Recently our house, well Laura in particular, was plagued with what we were calling a mystery rash. Literally here today, gone tomorrow. Better yet, here for 20 minutes, gone for 20 hours. I first noticed this mystery rash while giving her bath. It was almost as though she had what looked like a couple of welts or swollen bites on her arms.

Because of how fast the mystery rash seemed to spread although it stayed only on her arms, I took her to the hospital. If I had noticed the rash only 15 minutes earlier we could have gone to the walk-in clinic instead. I suppose this could be called, first time parent syndrome as the rash didn't seem to be bothering her, no fever, really no change in her at all. However, my husband and I wanted to be sure she was okay.

Of course by the time we made it to the hospital and registered her, the rash was gone. Considering the time was nearing 10 p.m. and we were looking at a minimum of six hours before she was going to be seen by a doctor, we left. Both Laura and Brady had a family doctor's appointment scheduled for the following morning, so I figured I would just mention it to him then. As well, my husband and I monitored her closely through the night.

The family doctor said she probably had an allergic reaction but as to what, he had no idea. He told us to watch her closely in case it happened again. That day she was fine, no rash. The third day was another story. Off and on throughout the day these same welt-like bumps were showing up on her arms. My husband and I racked our brains trying to figure out what could be causing this mystery rash.

We narrowed it down to two possibilities. A different cereal she had been eating through the week or the change in laundry detergent. We've never had a specific brand of detergent that we used, as we've always just bought whatever was on sale. Go figure the week the "name-brand" detergent is on sale, I buy it, and....... hello rash.

Needless to say all that laundry I was complaining about, well at least a quarter of it had to be re-washed. Knock on wood though, we must have been right. Since we went back to the cheaper detergent, the mystery rash is gone. The laundry on the other hand, it's still there.