The pox is upon us in The Ugly Truth About Raising Babies

We’ve had chicken pox this week. Well, V has had chicken pox this week. Thankfully I had it as a child, quite badly at the time, so I’ve not had it again, although I’ve definitely had some kind of virus and feel like absolute crap.

V has been a trouper, she’s been itchy but hasn’t scratched, piriton liquid has helped a lot. All of the topical things haven’t made much difference, the virasoothe hasn’t done anything for her. She’s enjoyed taking oat baths, the novelty of a bunch of porridge oats tied in one of my socks has really appealed to her! I couldn’t say if it’s been particularly soothing, but definitely worked as a distraction if nothing else.

She’s not had a bad dose in all honesty, she’s got off quite lightly. Definitely nothing like as many spots as we had as kids, and not as poorly as I remember being - I had them over Christmas holidays when I was about 7, and remember feeling horrific and having to sit on a cushion because I was covered in them. I remember them being in my hair, and remember the scabs coming off and trying to pick the bits out of my hair.

I’m glad she seems to have had a mild case, she’s a dramatic kid at the best of times so I was dreading a few days stuck indoors with her but she’s been really brave and apart from the usual quirks of being three, she’s actually been very good. The flat we moved to last year has our own outdoor space, a flagged yard but plenty big enough and low maintenance. We took the chalks out on Wednesday but she came in after a few minutes, it was very cold and she wasn’t feeling it.

Ironically, she’s scabbed over now, but I feel like today is the day she’s felt warmest and looked the poorliest. She’s been fine in herself though and said she feels ok. Definitely due a good bath today, she’s not had one since Wednesday morning, telling me she wants to be a stinky tink! We’ve not really been anywhere and it’ll do her no harm to miss a day or two. She’s normally in the bath every day because she’s never clean.

We’ve crafted and baked to pass the time, she’s played with her toys and puzzles, and watched encanto about a hundred times! We took a quick drive in the car to my dad’s on Wednesday, he’s been away to Denmark to visit his sister so I wanted to just put some lights on and throw the duster around. V and I stayed over the weekend to watch the dog, then took him down to kennels on Monday as I was supposed to be in work (chicken pox put paid to it). We just spent a quick hour, dusted, hoovered, and left some lights on. Was nice to have a change of scenery.

Last night we quickly slipped over to Liverpool cathedral. We had tickets for a light and sound show about space, it was really beautiful. We were only there for about 45 minutes, V’s all scabbed, and obviously the cathedral is vast. She slept on the way (too late), and then still went to bed when she came home. After a terrible week of sleep last week, to coincide with the full moon - believe what you will, some months the full moon really affects her sleep for three or four nights - she’s been sleeping very well this week which is a relief.

Today we’ve lounged in the house, I feel dreadful and she’s not tip top. We quickly popped to the supermarket this evening for some calpol and a few drinks, different fresh juices. I went off cordial when I was pregnant and have never found my way back to it and when i don’t feel 100% there’s only so much water I can be bothered with.

I think I need to request a face to face appointment next time I get my blood results for my thyroid. I don’t know if I ever wrote about being diagnosed with an under active thyroid during testing to see if I could be a bone marrow donor for my mum. I’ve had one face to face with an endocrinologist in the last 15 months, and since then I’ve been lucky if I’ve even got a phone call from my GP, a lot of the time I just get a text asking me to increase my dose and get in touch if I’ve not been taking my meds. They don’t even tell me my result, the one before last my tsh was 34 and should be under 4. Admittedly much better than the 170 when I was first diagnosed!

I need to ask some questions I think, I need to write a list so I can actually ask them. They normally ring with my result out the blue if I do get a phone call and it always feels rushed, I never get a chance to actually discuss anything.