Her first time being sick

The last week has felt pretty tough. Charlotte has been sick for the first time. I know that she will probably get sick many many more times in the future, but it was hard to see it. She started coming down with it late last week. She just seemed a little more grizzly than usual, which I put down to teething. We had quite a few rough nights where she woke up several times crying. By Saturday morning she was really distressed and I decided that she was sick, but just didn't know with what. We dosed her up on panadol which helped a little bit. But I spent most of the day lying on the couch with her on my chest. She would put her head down for a minute or two, then lift it up and cry, before plonking it back down. Saturday afternoon her temperature was up to 37.8 (it could have been more, it is hard to check her temp!) but the worst was to come.
Saturday night she woke up every hour or so until about 11 pm, when she SCREAMED for about an hour. Nothing seemed to help and I was just about to bundle her up in the car and take her to the hospital when she stopped. She then woke every 30-40 mins and cried but then finally slept between 4 and 6 am. Needless to say that James and I were also exhausted. It really was so distressing watching her cry and not knowing what to do!
Sunday morning we found a 7 day a week clinic and saw a doctor. Of course she looked completely happy playing at the doctors surgery, although we had just given her some more panadol before we got there. I had begun to think that she had an ear infection, but the doctor took one look at her throat and stated that it was covered in blisters, and that she had hand, foot and mouth disease. No wonder she had been screaming!
We came home with some antibiotics to prevent a secondary infection, and the advise to just keep dosing her up with panadol. It apparently is a fairly mild childhood disease, but it sure hasn't felt mild to me! Unfortunately I seem to also have come down with it although it is a bit milder in adults. I still feel like crap though, and have a bad cough, so I can't imagine how Charlotte feels. It could also be worse because I'm sleep deprived.
It is now 5 days since Charlotte first started showing symptoms and she is still a bit grizzly and running mild temperatures. She is still waking at night and having a cry, and the blisters are still evident on her face and backside. But she is improving, and I am feeling better today too.
On another note, I noticed what day it was on Saturday and realised that I was probably ovulating. To say that DTD was the last thing on my mind was an understatement. So I feel really bad about that. I don't know why I still beat myself up about making sure we try every month. Nothing is going to happen anyway. I hate how people say "I know someone who got pregnant after giving up IVF, or having a baby" so I still hold on to that hope that it might happen, even though it is false hope. Besides, after the week we've just had, maybe waiting a bit longer isn't a silly idea!

10 months

Charlotte is now 10 months old! I can't believe how fast time has gone. I also can't believe how much I have forgotten! I had the best of intentions to write down milestones as they happened, but of course didn't. I have tried to remember some things (like August 18th is when she began commando crawling and crawled up the step) but alot of things I have forgotten already. When I was pregnant I used to get frustrated at my mum because she kept saying that she had forgotten details of her pregnancies. I now understand why. Because if you don't forget, you would NEVER HAVE MORE THAN ONE!!!! I'm sure that is an inbuilt coping mechanism.

But so that I don't forget all the lovely things that she does, I will do a bit of a summary of things she is now doing, and when she started (if I can remember...)

Crawling: She began commando crawling as I mentioned earlier, in mid August at seven and a half months of age. She actually had been pulling herself along for a while, and I remember that day because suddenly she seemed to have intent with her movement. I had my coffee cup on the floor and she started to move towards it. So I put it up on the step thinking that she couldn't reach it. She got closer and closer and I kept moving it further and further away and the next thing she was up the step. She very quickly then moved on to pulling herself up to standing, and then cruising. It was about a month later before she began crawling on all fours. At 10 months she is cruising, and can occassionally stand unsupported.

Teeth: Charlotte's first tooth appeared on August 1. It was closely followed by the second one, both bottom teeth. The top two seemed to bud (the gums swelled) not long after. We had some terrible nights of grizzling but no teeth appeared. The top left one appeared two weeks ago and the other one is so nearly there. You can see the white line, but is hasn't broken through the gum yet. She was drooling alot today, so I'm sure it isn't far away. She can be a bit of an intermittent teether, sometimes it bothers her, other times it doesn't. It is very hard to tell!

Playing: This is an area where she has really developed alot in the last few weeks. I find that Charlotte doesn't so much play with toys as explore them. Although last week she began to put the shaped blocks into the bucket. She did try to put the round peg in the square hole so she is a little way off that, but it was lovely to see. She is good at banging things together, and likes to crawl around with toys in her mouth. I have a confession that I haven't been very good at reading to her, but all of a sudden she loves books! Well she loves turning the pages. Today we went to a cafe for lunch and I took a book. She sat in the pram turning pages and pointing to the pictures. It kept her quiet for ages! I have now stocked up on lots of hard books and she loves grabbing them and turning the pages. The "very hungry caterpillar" never gets boring for her!

Talking: I can't remember when she first started babbling, but the blah, blah blah sounds have been happening for a while. That quickly turned into dadda, then mumma. We now have cat, hello, and "whats that". Well that is what I think they all are! To anyone else they probably sound like gah, gawha, and gah dat. She has also begun to point at things with a real curiosity. She can wave a very cute little hand wave, and will sometimes clap her hands. She also bops along to music if it has a good beat!

Eating and sleeping: She is now having 3 solid meals a day, plus morning tea if we are home and I remember. Again the last week has seen a big improvement in her chewing and she can polish off a Vegemite sandwich, if she is so inclined. That is the problem, sometimes she loves chewing things, other times she gags. So most of her food is still pretty mushy. But we are getting there. She does love risotto, and pumpkin and carrot.
Sleep is still an issue, with each night being so different. We do try to settle her, but after half an hour the easiest thing to do is give her a BF. She falls back asleep straight away! I actually find it worse when she wakes up around 11pm as I have often only been asleep for a little while. Strangely 3-4am is much easier for me to deal with. Here's hoping that we see some improvement there!

One thing that is growing every day is my love for her. I wouldn't think that I could love her more every day, but I do. So happy 10 month birthday my precious girl.



Charlotte wondering how it will end?