On the mend again

Well after 10 days of shear hell, Zara is finally on the mend again.

It all started with that slight fever she had last Sunday when I took those photos of her and I was sure she just had a common cold.... the fever persisted for a couple of days and the poor little mite was just not herself. On Thursday it seemed like we had turned the corner (just in time for our trip to Wakkerstroom) and she was her normal cheerful self again. In fact, she was in such a great mood we went to visit Dad at work!

On Friday night, when we arrived in Wakkerstroom, she charmed Granny & Grandpa Hilton with her smiles and laughs. Then, during the night she just didn't seem to settle and I put it down to the change in environment and a pretty chilly Wakkerstroom. Again on Saturday she tried her best to be charming, albeit from a distance, so we put it down to the common 8mth old "momalitus"! By mid afternoon, we seemed to hit rock bottom as her fever spiked to 41. With Sharon's advice, Chris and I gave her a few cool baths to try bring her temp down and then kept her skin to skin on me with a cool face cloth on her head. Being skin to skin, allows my body to absorb her fever. She slept on and off for most of the rest of the weekend. I had to hold her all the time-as each time I thought she was a sleep and tried to put her down, she would have none of that and start yelling.

On Sunday evening when we got home we took her to the emergency pharmacy - they said it could be anything from teeth to a bladder infection..... On Monday, still feverish, we went off to the homeopath. He gave her the once over and also thought it must have been a cold, assuring me that whatever bug it was, it was on its way out and within the next day or so she would be right as rain. As if on cue, late on Tuesday, her fever broke completely and although still a bit clingy was certainly more herself, even cracking a smile or two.

Wednesday morning, I went back to gym, came home dressed her and put her down for her nap feeling quite excited about our weekly outing to bumps & babes. Within 30mins at Sharon's, Zara was really miz again - but there was no fever and yet nothing seemed to settle her. While Sharon was holding Zara I noticed some spots on her neck - at first we thought that maybe it was from where her necklace had been but after further investigation we saw her back and tummy were also covered. After a quick look in the books we decided it must be some form of measles...... so back off to see the homeopath - he confirmed our diagnosis. He says that its highly unlikely to have been rubella as her fever was way too high.

Having done some Google research when I got home, we have established that it is Roseola - baby measles - very common in babies her age, and almost impossible to diagnose till the spots present them selves as all the other symptoms are "cold/flu" flu like. Poor little Zara, if only it was easier to diagnose prior to the eruption of spots..... But as you can see, now she is a lot more cheerful and we are looking forward to happy weekend together!