Former Little People, Big World cast member Jeremy Roloff and his wife Audrey are juggling both a sick child in their 2-year-old Ember and an upcoming baby due any day. Now on top of that, the couple is sick, apparently catching the virus that Ember is currently battling. Ember was hospitalized for Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), a virus that can hinder a child’s respiratory tract, just before Christmas. The illness is highly contagious, so it’s not surprising the pair caught the virus. Luckily, the symptoms of RSV are much milder in adults, resulting in only a cold.
Roloff revealed the illness in an Instagram Story video with the caption that read: “Well, we lasted pretty long.”
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“We fought it off pretty hard, but now both both Audrey and I have pretty good colds. So, hunkering down low, doing all the things,” Roloff said in the video. “What Ember had, RSV, apparently if adults get it, it just manifests in a cold. So, looks like we got it.”
He later revealed how the couple was battling the cold. He took a picture that contained bottles of honey, apple cider vinegar, throat coat, thieves oil and lemon juice sitting on a counter top.
“The ULTIMATE cold remedy,” Roloff captioned the image.
Audrey broke the news of Ember’s condition on Dec. 19 alongside a picture of the little girl being held in a medical facility’s waiting room.
“Behind the scenes of our reality lately… I thought I’d have more cute family Christmas photos filling my camera roll by now, but instead I have this photo… Holding a sick baby at 4 a.m. in the emergency room,” Roloff wrote. “Last week Ember came down with her first bad tummy bug and it was a solid 4 or 5 days of ‘owie tummy,’ fever and vommiting… she started to feel better for a couple days, but then started saying ‘owie’ when she went to the bathroom… and then at night spiked a high fever so I was concerned about a UTI. We walked in to the ER at 11 p.m. and didn’t get discharged till 5 a.m. Sitting on that miserable chair all night, while 37 weeks pregnant, just to wait for a urine sample and a nose swab.. I do not understand the ER.
“Welp, turns out she has RSV on top of everything else she’s been through the last week. Was up all night again last night with a horrible cough and fever. In between comforting her, the pressure of a book manuscript that’s already past deadline, all the year-end stuff when you run your own business/shop, Christmas commitments, the final weeks of pregnancy aches/emotions, and just feeling nervous for labor… I’m at the end of an already frayed rope.
“So if your week doesn’t look as dreamy and perfect as the Christmasy photos you’re seeing on Instagram right now, you’re not alone. I’m giving myself permission to have unwrapped gifts under the tree, unresponded to e-mails/texts, stay in my pajamas, let the laundry baskets overflow, put on another episode of Daniel Tiger for Ember, and order take out for the 4th time this week. Maybe you need to extend extra grace to yourself this week too. I give you permission.”
On Monday, Roloff revealed Ember was on the mend, all while hoping she and Jeremy would not catch the bug.
“Ember is finally on the up and up,” Audrey wrote. “Still praying we don’t get it… and that this passes over us before baby boy decides to make his debut. Gosh, RSV is no joke. Poor girl still has a terrible cough but she is way more herself the last couple days, so we went for a walk around the farm yesterday to see the animals and get outside for a bit.”
