Megan is now seven and a half months old. This fortnight started off relatively normally, with friends for dinner, a trip to Callendar Park with Mummy, Daddy and Aidan, and visits to toddler group. She has been suffering a fair bit with teething pain, and teeth four, five and six arrived. Then, on Wednesday 17th of May, Mummy noticed the first spots...

Megan is becoming more confident with her walking - she is taking definite steps now, holding onto someone's hands for support, and can walk from room to room. She is also bottom-shuffling around the bath to get to the toys she wants to play with. She is enjoying her solid food, and likes to grab the spoon and feed herself.

Megan is a very cuddly baby, and often stretches out her arms to be picked up and cuddled. She is also starting to babble a lot - and at one point, she looked directly at Mummy, held out her arms to be picked up and said "Ma"!

Megan's chicken pox began slowly, with just a few spots appearing over the first 48 hours, and we wondered if she would escape fairly lightly. However on Friday evening, her temperature went up and the spots started to appear. Over the weekend, more and more spots appeared and we battled to keep her temperature down with maximum doses of paracetemol and ibuprofen. She was very poorly and, in the early hours of Monday morning, her temperature went up to 40 degrees and we called the out-of-hours GP.

To cut a long story short, Megan was admitted to hospital at 0500, where they immediately started her on antibiotics and piriton, in addition to the paracetemol and ibuprofen. She remained very poorly throughout that day but her temperature stabilised as the evening progressed. The consultant kept her in hospital that night (but sent Mummy and Daddy home to sleep) and she was much improved the next day. She was discharged (with 24-hour immediate access to the ward) on the Tuesday lunchtime, as Mummy felt confident that the hospital could do no more than she could do at home.

Megan slept a lot in the days that followed, and it wasn't until the last of the scabs came off a couple of weeks later, that she was back to her normal happy, contented self.

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Image 0053-0877 Canon PowerShot S45 1/79 sec., f/6.3 2006:05:14 13:43:12 UTC (c) Keith & Carolyn

Megan on the big slide.

On my feet. Megan has just started walking from one room to the next, while holding on to our hands. Here she is with Rachel, walking from the lounge to the hall for the first time.

Image 0053-0909 Canon PowerShot S45 1/60 sec., f/2.8 2006:05:15 14:34:58 UTC (c) Keith & Carolyn

Image 0053-0913 Canon PowerShot S45 1/60 sec., f/3.2 2006:05:20 17:16:37 UTC (c) Keith & Carolyn

Watching the washing machine. Megan is watching the washing, but Aidan and Daddy are more interested in watching Megan.

Asleep in hospital.

Image 0053-0996 Canon PowerShot S45 1/4 sec., f/2.8 2006:05:22 18:36:03 UTC (c) Keith & Carolyn

Image 0053-1000 Canon PowerShot S45 1/4 sec., f/2.8 2006:05:22 18:37:00 UTC (c) Keith & Carolyn

Saying goodnight. Megan's temperature had finally stabilised and she had fallen into her first proper sleep for three days. Mummy was saying goodnight (in preparation for going home and having her first proper sleep for three days too). Megan slept for the next fourteen hours, waking once for milk, her antibiotics and a nappy change, and once for a top-up of calamine lotion and her next dose of antibiotics.

Home again. Taken two days later, Megan is looking and feeling much better, although still needing lots of sleep.

Image 0053-1028 Canon PowerShot S45 1/30 sec., f/2.8 2006:05:24 07:49:55 UTC (c) Keith & Carolyn