When chicken pox struck

We've been dreading chicken pox for years. We actually thought that Harry had already had it, especially as he had survived it doing the rounds for years at nursery and pre-school. But I tucked him up in bed as normal one evening, then when I went in to kiss him goodnight later, he was red hot. We managed to get some Calpol into him, and as we did so we saw the first spot. There was no doubt this time, it was a proper blistery spot.

Fortunately I think he got off quite lightly. He got lots of spots, but they didn't seem to bother him. He was very tired, but was happy to just lie on the sofa and watch television for a couple of days. He was a bit freaked out by the spots though and he didn't want anyone to see them, I had to get him dressed with both our eyes shut. This meant that he refused to go in the bath or put on any calamine cream, but luckily he didn't seem to suffer with any itchiness.

Then we were in limbo, knowing that there was an excellent chance that Mia would get it, and sure enough, almost exactly two weeks later, I found the first spot after her bath. Poor little Mia really suffered. We had to take her to the emergency doctor because two days later her eyes had swollen and she couldn't open them - he diagnosed infection and prescribed anti-biotics. Fortunately, although miserable, it was a fairly short-lived illness, and the next day she was feeling much better, and up and about like usual.

So we are left feeling enormous relief now that particular childhood milestone is out of the way, although I do keep hearing horror stories of children that get it over and over again!