Mike wrote a while ago about how much better we've got to know the surrounding area now we have a 'Please get me out of the house now' machine (Paedogeognosis). I meant to write a week ago at the delight I had of seeing things I'd never seen before, thanks to my walks with Bridget. Walking along a very full Taw river, I was amazed and thrilled to see fish jumping up one of the weirs. Wonderful!
We said we'd been away for the weekend, staying with our friends Tim and Di in Cambridge. It was fascinating watching Bridget's relationship with them develop over the couple of days. She was understandably clingy when we arrived, not wanting to be very far away from either parent, particularly me. However, by Sunday morning crayons and noisy musical toys were being handed around to all and sundry, in the hope of positive feedback from the recipient. We are thrilled to have such a friendly, responsive child. No idea where she got it from.
At last, we have an explanation for Bridget's fever, general crossness and newfound spottiness. She has chicken pox. Again. Apparently it can recur if a child doesn't build up a strong enough immunity the first time round.
Thankfully, the fever seems to have disappeared, but she's clearly quite bothered by the spots at the moment, and really isn't herself. And there's the added complication of juggling work and looking after her for at least this week, and quite possibly next.
Sorry we haven't given you an update on Bridget's condition. We've been away for the weekend in Cambridge (I was singing in Tallis's 40-part motet - great fun) and life has been complicated at home.
Anyway, Mike had a pretty good day with Bridget on Thursday. Her temperature was up again in the morning, but once the Ibuprofen was administered it came down and she ate well at breakfast and her snack and played perfectly happily. The afternoon was mixed and my return home brought on a flood of tears, but we thought that she was probably pulling through.
Since her temperature was still up on Friday morning we took her into the surgery again. The doctor we saw said that, if Bridget was still eating well and sleeping OK and not being too unhappy, it was probably just a virus but that there was the possibility it might be a urine infection. She said that we could try taking a sample and bringing it back in for checking. She also gave us the all-clear to go away to Cambridge, saying that being in a different environment would probably perk Bridget up anyway.
So, off we set, complete with urine sample bag that has to be taped onto the baby and left inside the nappy until she's peed, at which point it has to be cut and the urine deposited in a specimen container. We haven't actually tried this, so we don't know how appallingly badly it works. Bridget slept for much of the seven-and-a-half-hour journey (OK, there were some breaks, but it was pretty horrendous). She had a temperature when we arrived in Cambridge and it took a long time to calm her down before bed.
On Saturday morning Bridget woke late and was fairly happy and chirpy until I left for my rehearsal. Apparently she then screamed for 45 minutes until Mike went out. He had a good trip to a friend, apart from a disastrous poo session, due to an undone nappy. This meant a top-speed return to where we were staying for a change of clothes, before rushing in to town to meet me for lunch. He's just about recovered now. When I got back in the afternoon everything seemed to be happy and Bridget appeared to be well on the way to being well again. She refused a bath, but went to bed without problem. Mike decided to stay in just in case and I had an enjoyable hour and a half singing in St John's chapel.
This morning Bridget woke us at the delightful time of ten past six (all right, ten past seven according to her clock, but the rest of us are back on GMT now). She had a temperature again and was unsettled through the morning while we got ready to leave. The journey back, although mercifully shorter, was hard, since Bridget got very unhappy about being in the car again and was not to be pacified apart from with all her snacks before we'd been driving for more than two hours. However, we made it back here by 4.15 without too terrible a time. Once Bridget decided to trust that we weren't about to go out again anywhere soon she settled into being happy at being home again, even giggling raucously at Mummy's silly antics.
As we started the bedtime routine, we noticed that, although Bridget had no temperature at all, she has rapidly developed a rash on her back. So we don't quite know what's going on. It may just be an indeterminate viral illness (they do spark rashes in very young children), or it could be something more serious. It sounds like it'll be back to the doctor's tomorrow morning. And we promise there'll be an update in shorter order than last time.