Friday 23rd

Charlotte went to Guildford Hospital today to have some new moulds made of her ears. Nothing is ever easy with Charlotte. Something I will remind her of when she is older !!! She had wax in one ear and they could not do the mould for fear of pressing the wax onto the ear drum. So, a doctor attempted to remove it. He tried to synringe it out but it wasnt budging, then he attempted to dislodge it. At this point Charlotte started to get extremely annoyed and the doctor decided it was a wasted cause. So, we need to put ear drops in and then return in a week. She was ever so angry, there were no tears so I know it wasnt hurting her, she was just cross. I think she has my (mum) temper!

Wednesday 21st.

Piglet had her fortnightly visit to the Health Centre to be weighed today. We had noticed recently that her appetite had really increased and she has felt heavier, she is not fat but is very long.Her 20 week scan had shown her femur to be above average length ie. she has inherited daddy's long legs.She finally weighs more than Rooster our 1 stone cat. She has gained 12 oz in the last 2 weeks and is now 14 lbs 7 oz , over a stone at last.

She is off to the Royal Surrey tomorrow to get new moulds made for her ears which continue to grow, she needs new ones every 6 weeks or so and are still awaiting delivery of her new pink hearing aids.

Friday 9th

Charlotte has been for her second physio appointment. Charlotte looks like any other baby, to us acts like any other baby, so it really comes as a shock when an expert physio says that she has concerns as your baby feels "a bit stiff" and may have problems as is not sitting yet and that physically she is behind for her corrected age of 6 and a half months. I (mum) badgered the physio with questions and she really was not prepared to say much. I asked if she had to guess the age of Charlotte in terms of her movement what would she guess. She said 3 months in terms of her movement, but in terms of her alertness then a lot better.

It's still hard after all this time to hear there may be issues. In the back of your mind you always know its a possibility, but until somebody actually tells you then I have to admit "ignorance is bliss"!

She said it was really early stages to really tell if there are issues. We should just concentrate on her exercises and her next development stages. She did however recommend that she be referred to an assessment panel of doctors and specialists who review babies and children with special needs. She said that one doctor concentrates on eating and swallowing. Well, we know Charlotte has no issues in that department.

I felt a little down this afternoon. I then took Charlotte shopping at Waitrose and she just continued to giggle and laugh at me. Whatever the future, she is our little Charlotte and we love her to bits. She is just so gorgeous.

Monday 5th - The Cheeky Girls

The April Photo's have just been uploaded. They include a couple of photo's of Charlotte with her two cousins "The Cheeky Girls" Victoria and Elizabeth Low, taken at their Grandfather's 80th Birthday party yesterday.

Friday 2nd - Graduation Day

Charlotte is 9 months, 2 weeks & 3 days old today and was still in 0 -3 months clothes until lunchtime, albeit now very tight. She finally graduated to 3-6 months for the first time from tonight, they are baggy but not too much so. We are going shopping tomorrow with her Auntie Julie to buy bigger clothes, size 3 -6 months

We took Piglet to an 11:30 appt at the Royal Surrey Hospital,Guildford, and had good news. Tests have finally confirmed that she has normal levels of hearing with her Hearing Aids in. They could not tell the level unaided as she had lost patience by then but her unaided hearing will be checked in a follow up appointment in August. We do know she can hear without the hearing aids but we need to have the proper distraction tests carried out so that we know at what level. It was good to hear the specialist say "it appears her hearing is not as bad as we first thought" To be honest, we knew that already as we know she has responded to our voice even when speaking gently to her. They did confirm she still has catarrgh in both ears so it is a waiting game. They have also agreed to send us some pink hearing aids.

C also had a 14:00 appointment wtih the Physiotherapist at Frimley Health Centre. We had noticed that Charlotte arches her head back a lot , as opposed to looking around. We assumed it was normal but were told premature babies often suffer from it, which physiotherapy can resolve, or it could be a sign of cerebral palsy. She now has weekly visits to a physiotherapist and we have also been shown exercises which will encourage her to assume a feotal position, which she never had the chance to do in the womb, being so early. This is preventing her from being able to sit up unaided but we should know which it is within the next month or so. We are keeping everything crossed and are touching as much wood as possible that the small issue is simply down to her being so premature

All in all we had a pretty good day and although there are obviously still worries after the physio appointment we will always remain positive. Charlotte is a strong little girl and has beaten so much in her short life that we know she will overcome any obstacle. The new pictures for April will be up very soon. We hope you like the pictures of her wearing her first set of sunglasses.

Wednesday 23rd

Charlotte was weighed today at 13 lbs 5 oz, exactly 12 pounds heavier than she was originally. She is enjoying her food and now makes it obvious if we give her something she dislikes.We are still using the Annabel Karmel recipe book but have changed her routine now so she generally has milk in between her main meals. She is now on follow on milk, which has helped weight gain

Other than when she has nightmares she does generally sleep through from bedtime at around 8.30 until around 6 am when she wakes up and starts "talking" to us. We got her to associate an evening bath being followed by a final bottle and then bed so we have been slowly moving her bathtime back and thus she is going to bed earlier.

• 08.00 Breakfast (120 Ml milk and different flavours of baby porridge)
• 11:00 Mid morning snack of 120 ml milk
• 13:00 Lunch (Chicken or Beef Casserole)
• 15.30 Afternoon snack of 120 ml bottle of milk
• 18.00 Dinner (alternate between vegtable meal i.e. Veg bolognese with petit filous yoghurt for pudding and a fruit puree ie. Strawberry,Rasberry,Pear and Nectarine mixed in with yoghurt.
• 20:00 A bath followed by 120 ml of milk and then she goes to bed.

Thursday 17th

Charlotte's Tesco Baby Diary has now come to an end. The final week 13 was added last Friday, to be replaced by someone else's Diary soon. Thanks to the site we can afford to take Charlotte for her very first Holiday in Majorca in just over 2 months time. The holiday photo's will feature in the final update to this website which will be for the month of July.

Charlotte's first British Passport arrived in the post yesterday and she has really changed since the photo was taken !

Click here for Tesco's Babyclub Diary Week 13

Wednesday 9th

Samantha took Piglet to the Hospital this afternoon to be weighed for the first time in nearly 4 weeks. The Woman sitting beside them looked at Charlotte and remarked to her baby, "look at that tiny little baby, you were that small once".Samantha immediately responded by saying " I bet my baby is older than yours , how old is she" ?. The woman replied confidently "9 weeks old". Her Jaw dropped and she looked stunned when Samantha informed her that Charlotte was nearly 9 months old. Her new weight is 12 lbs 10 oz.

Charlotte is 8 months, 3 weeks and 4 days old today and still fitting into 0 - 3 months size, but we expect her to be promoted to 3 - 6 months size clothes in the next 3-4 weeks

Monday 7th

The March Photo's have been added. They show her smiling and enjoying her favourite pastimes of eating, watching TV, going to the pub and learning to play the Piano, based on the first three she is definitely a Low. March saw her finally start to smile and learn to turn over. Now if we lie her on her back she turnovers onto her front very quickly. We watched her try this for weeks without success and cheered when she managed it for the first time.

Friday 4th

Click here for Tesco's Babyclub Diary Week 12

Thursday 27th

Click here for Tesco's Babyclub Diary Week 11

Charlotte wears her hearings aids for most of the day now. We recently noticed that she gets upset when we take them off,an encouraging sign that she can hear sounds with them on. She also has nightmares 2 or 3 times each night, waking in a very distressed state and we have to tun on the lights and calm her down. We read this is a common condition in babies with Hearing loss. We Ordered a baby monitor yesterday with a nightlight so hopefully not being in complete darkness all night may help.

24th - Easter Sunday

Charlotte's first Easter. Charlotte has spent the last 4 days in Devon. It was officially Charlotte's first "Bridget Jones" style mini break. Oh my did she enjoy herself. We became really worried when we arrived and she refused to have anything to eat. But soon realised it was because she was so fascinated by her new surroundings and what was going on around her. She didn't want to worry about eating, she wanted to be nosey and have a look around.

By day 2 her belly had started to cry out for food and she soon started eating again, thank god. It was a rather blustery, cold and wet introduction to the world of "mini breaks" but Charlotte had a fantastic time and so did we.

Of course, everybody who saw her cooed over Charlotte and we enjoyed telling everybody about how she came into the world and what a little fighter and miracle baby she is.

So, now we are back home we are cooking a lovely Easter lunch. We are going to purree lunch so that Charlotte can have some for her tea, fingers crossed she will love turkey, potatoes, cauliflower, and peas !!

Sunday 16th

Click here for Tesco's Babyclub Diary Week 10

It is sometimes hard to believe that Piglet is now 8 months old, especially as she is still in 0-3 months clothes. She has had over 30 Hospital appointments since coming home 21 weeks ago today, (not including regular weekly home visits by various specialists) , seeing Doctors in 5 different Hospitals throughout London, Surrey and Hampshire. She now finally has a couple of weeks off with no visits until 1st May at the Royal Surrey for a Hearing checkup.Everything else has been pretty much crossed off the list

Friday 12th

The Health visitor came today and decided that as Charlotte is doing so well she no longer needs a home visit. Samantha will take Piglet to the Health Centre once a fortnight to be weighed. She weighed her at 11 lbs 12 oz.

Monday 10th .

Dr Malik saw Charlotte at Frimley today, measured her head and checked her eye reactions and neck movement. He is pleased with the progress she is making meeting her milestones so far. Her neck is not as strong as it would be for a term baby her "age" , and is sometimes a bit floppy,usually when she is tired. He said that is because her head is still over sized,(the water on the brain), compared with her slimmer neck but she is making progress.

She has really started smiling more and more and seems to have become more communicative, as opposed to just grunting, since she got her hearing aids. He has referred her to a physio but said this is a proactive move and not because he considers there to be any problem at this stage.

Friday 7th .

Click here for Tesco's Babyclub Diary Week 9

Wednesday 5th .

We took Charlotte to St George's London for a 12:30 appointment regarding her Hydrocephalus (water on the brain). Dr Martin was very pleased with her progress and after examining her decided another CT Brain scan was not necessary. Dr Malik at Frimley Park will see her regularly for the next year and she will only be referred to Dr Martin should she deteriorate and potentially require a shunt, but he expects her to continue to improve.

She will go to St George's for checkups in 6 months, and 12 months at which point she will have a full MRI Brain scan to see if there is any obvious damage. He re-iterated that it will be another 12-18 months before we know if she may any issues resulting from the 2 Brain Cysts, the Hydrocephalus or the Brain Meningitis so we must continue to monitor her milestones.

Sunday 2nd Mother's Day.

We celebrated Samantha's first Mother's day and clever little "Piglet" Low even managed to get Mummy some flowers and a card, and even scrawl her name on it. The February photo's have also been uploaded.

Friday 29th.

Click here for Tesco's Babyclub Diary Week 8

The Health visitor came today and her head size is still okay, (she has a follow up CT brain scan in London next week), so we hope for more good news then. She was weighed in at 11 lbs 4 oz. The H/V has agreed she only needs to come a couple more times.

Thursday 28th.

Samantha took Charlotte to the Royal Surrey Hospital 9.30 am for a Hearing checkup. They said the Catarrh in the left ear has cleared slightly and did tests which were promising,suggesting some improvement. The tests in the other ear are still inconclusive.They hope the Catarrh will clear naturally otherwise she will need an operation in the future although they still cannot tell us what level of hearing she may have, even without the Catarrh.

Friday 22nd.

Click here for Tesco's Babyclub Diary Week 7

Wednesday 20th.

We have decided to continue to update the Website for the first year of Charlotte's life. The January photo's have just been uploaded.

They show,amongst other things, her first experience of - Solid foods, Digital TV, her very nice local Restaurant/Pub (The White Lion in Yateley,Hampshire), watching her first Rugby match (in full O2 England Babykit), and the start of her Tesco's Babyclub Diaries.

Friday 15th.

Click here for Tesco's Babyclub Diary Week 6

Charlotte is 7 Months old today and people still mistake her for a newborn baby, surely this cannot last much longer !

Charlotte had her fortnightly visit from the Health Visitor this morning. she measured her head size and weighed her. Her head size is fine so we are confident the water on her brain is resolving itself and an operation will not be required, the symptoms have not been apparent for sometime now. Her next CT scan in London is in a couple of weeks, we hope she will be given the all clear then.

2 Weeks ago she had only gained 5 oz which was disappointing, but we had just started weaning her on fruit and vegetable puree's and we had dropped her milk feeds from 650-750 ml a day to 300-400 ml. She is now on higher calorie stage 2 foods and has increased another 13 oz to now weigh 10 lbs 13 oz.

We have found the recipes in the Annabel Karmel book to be very good and popular with Charlotte. The only problem is many of them, like the Chicken Casserole, are so tasty that we have to resist the temptation to eat it ourselves and just give Piglet Low a bottle of milk. Annabel has good ideas of different combinations of purees. We tried her puree of Cauliflower,tomatao and cheese which Piglet gave a still very small thumbs up to. The stage 2 meals and routine we describe on Friday 8th entry do seem to be working as she now generally sleeps all night from 11 pm to 8.00 am.

Wednesday 13th.

Charlotte had an appointment at the Royal Surrey Hospital today at 10:00 to have her hearing aids fitted. We were given some bad news whilst there, she would have to wear big ugly brown ones and not the pretty little pink ones we had hoped for. Charlotte may be almost 7 months old but being a girl, no doubt she is already fashion conscious.

As soon as we got home Samantha put her hearing aids in and talked to her for an hour and told me how responsive she now was to her voice. I was unable to suppress a big grin when she later realised that she had actually forgotten to switch the Hearing Aid batteries on. !

She will go to the hospital once a month to see the Doctor and will have a home visit once a week to check, run tests and adjust the aids if necessary

Friday 8th.

Click here for Tesco's Babyclub Diary Week 5

Piglet Low has started Stage 2 Weaning. "Annabel Karmel - Feeding your Baby & Toddler. The complete cookbook" was recommended to us and is very good for all 4 stages of weaning from 6 months.

Stage 1 involves a smooth vegetable,(such as Carrot,parsnip,swede,sweet potato and pea)or fruit puree,(mango,Apple,pear,plum,banana,peach,apricot). We had been giving her milk and a fruit puree for breakfast and vegetable puree for dinner, both mixed with Organix First wholemeal baby rice and milk.

Stage two involves graduating to purees of meat,poulty,fish and full fat milk products such as Petis Filous baby yoghurts . She had a puree spaghetti bolognese with minute bits of soft spaghetti in it for lunch yesterday, she has started chewing and loved the taste. Samantha made a chicken casserole from a recipe in the Karmel book for dinner which she loved too.

We are trying to settle her into a daily routine. Typical day as follows.

• 08.00 Breakfast (100 ml of Milk followed by Organix Fig & Apple Breakfast or banana porridge)
• 12:00 Lunch (Meat or Veg puree, like chicken casserole or sweet potato, carrot and cheese puree, yoghurt for pudding and bottle of milk).
• 15.30 Afternoon snack bottle of 120 ml bottle of milk
• 18.00 Dinner (Veg Puree like spag bol,fruit puree like peach and apple puree for pudding and bottle of milk)
• 21:00 A bath followed by 80-100 ml of milk.
• 04:00 Piglet Low does often wake at approx this time and demand 100 ml milk

Friday 31st.

Click here for Tesco's Babyclub Diary Week 4

We did not get much sleep last night as Charlotte was very grumpy,although She has recently started to wake up hungry 4.00-4.30 am and demand a feed. Samantha took her to Frimley Park Hospital yesterday for the last of her 5 month course of RSV injections. Charlotte hates injections, probably having had 10 times more already than most people have in their lifetimes. Her arms and legs are covered with tiny needle scars, like a junkie.

The Health visitor came this morning and weighed her at 10 lbs. She is 6 months, 2 weeks and 2 days old today. We will need to increase her calorie intake and have been advised to move from just puree fruit and vegetables to meat,fish and potato.

Monday 28th.

Samantha rang me with some more good news,Charlotte is on a roll and we have another issue we can cross off the list. Jennifer rang with the results of her latest blood test,taken Friday. We have been giving her Calciferol and iron daily for her Metabolic Bone disease,but we can now stop from today,as her blood tests have,at last, come back all clear. This just leaves the Abidec Multivitamin supplement which we will need to give her until she is about a year old.

She has also become really responsive to us over the last couple of weeks with lots of variation in the noises she makes, as if she is communicating with us as opposed to just crying. She has also started looking around a lot and showing much more interest in what is going on and is smiling more and more which is wonderful to see.

Thursday 24th.

Click here for Tesco's Babyclub Diary Week 3

We took Charlotte for a 9.30 appointment today at the Audiology Dept Royal Surrey Hospital,Guildford. She still has catarrh in both ear canals but it is still too early for them to remove or to tell whether this is the cause of her hearing loss. They still cannot determine the exact level of hearing loss she has in both ears. They also made silicon imprints of her ears and we will have an appointment next month to have her hearing aids fitted. Once they have been fitted she will have a weekly home visit to evaluate and monitor her hearing.

Wednesday 23rd.

Today it feels like a great weight has been lifted off our shoulders and once again Charlotte has shown just what a tough little fighter she is. She continues to defy the odds and we are so proud of our little Angel.

We received on Monday a copy of a letter sent by Dr Malik, her Consultant Paediatrician at Frimley Park,Surrey to Dr Martin Consultant Neurosurgeon at St George's,London, concerning the results of the U/S Brain Scan.It explained that she was diagnosed with two clusters of brain cysts shortly after birth, a result of fungal meningitis. A routine post discharge scan on 23/11/07 revealed that she had unfortunately developed ventricular dilatation (swollen ventricles in her brain)and Hydrocephalus (excessive fluid on the brain) also as a result.

The scan at Farnham Hospital last Friday showed further enlargement of the ventricles from 2.37cm/2.85 cm to 3.4/3.2 cm. Dr Malik's letter requested an urgent appointment indicating she was now a likely candidate for a shunt placement(a permanent tube inserted into brain through to the stomach to drain the fluid). If too much fluid builds up it can cause excessive pressure and lead to brain damage.

We were worried by the letter but also remained positive as, although her head was very swollen at the time of the first scan it is now at the top end of average size. The "sunset eye" symptom also settled at about the same time and she only shows very minor symptoms now.

We attended St George's today for a 12:30 appointment and left about 3.30. Dr Martin examined her first. He remarked at how alert and responsive she was, she was not really showing the typical signs of a baby with pressure on the brain. She then had a CT Brain scan. It was my turn to stay beside Charlotte wearing the lead lined overalls to protect me from the radiation whilst Sam and the Doctors stayed behind the protective glass and operated it remotely. Charlotte looked very small on a platform designed for an adult.

We returned to the ward afterwards and waited anxiously untill Dr Martin came to see us. I cannot convey how relieved we were when he uttered the words "she is fine". She is not out of the woods yet and still shows minor symptoms but he compared Novemember and today's CT scan and the fluid on the brain and resultant pressure have both improved and she does not need an operation to insert a shunt. Her ventricles are still larger than a normal baby but it is the pressure on the brain which is the area of concern.

He is pleased with her progress but her Brain still needs to be monitored until they are happy that it cannot regress and cause problems, but this is very unlikely. We have a follow up appointment at St George's 5th of March.

As we we left Ocean ward on our way back to the car park, almost everyone we passed stared at Charlotte in her car seat and uttered to themselves "aaaw look at that pretty little newborn baby, she is soo cute. A Hospital Porter in the lift thought we had just come from the delivery ward. He asked how many days old she was and we heard sharp intakes of breath from everyone in the lift when we said she was 6 months old. She is just fitting into newborn clothes and has such a pretty delicate looking face that she genuinely does look like a newborn baby

Friday 18th.

We took Charlotte to Farnham Hospital for an Ultrasound scan of her head yesterday and the results were sent to St George's Hospital,London. We have not heard anything yet but remain optimistic as Charlotte's seems very well. She also reached one of her milestones this week by starting to smile. Having the day off yesterday I saw her smile for the first time and it was great. She is generally too tired or grumpy in the evenings when I get home from work which is why I had not seen one before.

The Health Visitor came this morning and confirmed that her head size is still right on track and she has gained around 7 oz in the last two weeks and is now a whopping 9 lbs 10 oz.

We also decided yesterday that Piglet Low deserves a June holiday in the sun for being such a little trooper and our miracle baby.We consulted Jennifer, the Frimley Park Neo-natal Sister, and she is fine with the idea. Samantha and Charlotte are currently at home today looking at Holiday Brochures for Majorca.

We also found the first puree food which she does not like. Samantha tried puree of Broccoli,Cauliflower and Cheese but Piglet grimaced and pulled a face like a Gremlin,kept her mouth tight shut and refused anymore. She really loves anything with Mango in it.She had better learn to eat her veg if she wants to go on this holiday.Samantha also tried Sweet Potato which she really loved.

Tesco update their Baby and Toddlers club online Diaries every Thursday, week 2 of Charlotte's Diary went up yesterday.

Click here for Tesco's Babyclub Diary Week 2

Sunday 13th

The final photo's have been added to the December section

It is incredible to believe that we are celebrating our miracle baby being 6 months old today. She has faced almost every issue a 24 week premature baby could possibly face, and we spent months thinking she would never leave the NICU/SCBU.

We will never get bored of saying how immensely proud we are that our 1 lb 5 oz baby, whom the Doctors thought was unlikely to survive the Brain Infection (fungal candida meningitis) she had from birth, has proved to be such a remarkable fighter and such an inspiration to us and a source of strength.

Looking back at her Discharge notes,(see Diary entry 1st November 2007), which make both very scary and daunting reading, we feel so proud of our little Angel at just how many issues she has had to face and overcome against such overhwhelming odds.

She has recovered from the PDA (heart murmur), the ROP (eye abnormality), Brain infection(given 1% chance surviving ), and she is nearly cured, through her daily medicines, of the metabolic bone disease she had from birth). The two brain cysts,(caused by oxygen starvation at birth) are healed over. Although healed over, we have to see whether Charlotte meets her development milestones to know whether she may face issues in life,(Cerebral Palsy) as a result.

She has partial hearing loss in both ears which could be due to catarrh. She has water on the brain discovered in December which we think has resolved itself but a scan this week will confirm it. But even if there is brain damage of any kind,or resultant mental or physical disability from that or the cysts or the brain infection, all we see is a very beautiful tough little baby we love to bits.At the moment she is behaving like a perfectly normal baby

Charlotte's story began in the NICU unit but it still continues. She even now, has many Hospital appointments and visits from Jennifer the Neo-natal sister, but slowly and surely she is fighting every obstacle thrown her way.

Even now Charlotte is home the worries continue but she has made it home against the odds and that in itself makes everything worthwhile as we love her so much, and that gives us the strength to cope with whatever issues she may face.

So, we say Happy 6 months Charlotte. We love you.

Thursday 10th

We were emailed by the Editor of the Website for Tesco's Supermarket Baby and Toddlers Club last month, whom had seen the Website, and asked if we would be interested in writing a weekly online Diary on Tesco's website for around 3 months. Samantha sent them the first entries which went online this morning.

Click here for Tesco's Babyclub Diaries

we ordered a liquidiser from Amazon on Monday and it arrived Tuesday. We are now making all Charlotte's puree food as opposed to the Supermarket bottled foods which are full of chemicals, just read all the E Numbers on the label. As well as her milk Charlotte now has a fruit puree in the morning and a vegetable puree in the evening, both mixed with wholemeal baby rice.

For the fruit we have so far tried liquidising together (apples and bananas), (apples and pears,) both of which she liked.For the Vegetables we tried the following mixtures (potato,carrot and pea), (parsnip,pea) and carrot by itself. Samantha also tried a mango mixture which Charlotte really loved. We tend to give her some milk first to take the edge off her hunger, then the puree food mixture and then wash it down with the rest of her milk.

Friday 4th

The health visitor saw Charlotte this morning and weighed her at 9 lbs 3 oz, so a net gain of nearly 8lbs since July. She also measured her head. If it were to increase by more than a centimetre a week then there would be concern that fluid on the brain was increasing and she would need to go to A&E urgently. However, apart from the week it was discovered last November (see Diary Entry 22/11/07) her head circumference has returned to exactly the expected size for her age and is growing at the normal weekly rate.She is also not really showing any symptoms anymore so we are optimistic that the fluid on the brain may have been a temporary blockage which might have resolved itself.

The Health Visitor commented that she is looking very well. charlotte is not smiling as much as might be expected at this stage for a term baby but she explained that it could be linked with the hearing loss and is nothing to worry about at this stage.

We have to take Charlotte back to the Royal Surrey,Guildford, 24th January to see the Hearing specialist, we assume to talk about fitting Hearing aids. Samantha wants to buy her some pretty tiny pink girlie ones privately, the new digital ones are supposed to be very small. Hopefully she will then be able to hear just how ear piercingly loudly she often cries most of the day/night and may start to cry a little quieter.

Wednesday 2nd

Samantha took Charlotte to Frimley Park for the 4th of her 5 month course of RSV antibodies injections, (for her immune system). Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a common virus which, in Adults and healthy children causes symptoms similar to a common cold, including rhinitis (runny nose, sneezing or nasal congestion), cough, sore throat and sometimes fever. Epidemics generally start in November or December and last for four to five months, peaking over the Christmas and New Year period. In most babies RSV infection lasts between one and three weeks

Around two-thirds of babies get RSV before they are one year old. If your baby was born prematurely, is prone to getting lung infections or was born with a congenital heart problem, he/she could be at greater risk of developing the more severe from of RSV (bronchiolitis and pneumonia) were he/she to become infected with RSV. A baby born very premature who was dependent on additional oxygen for several months or who may have gone home receiving extra oxygen is also at particular risk. This is why we are avoiding Charlotte coming into contact with anyone who has a cold or young children.

Whilst there she spoke to Dr Malik, Charlotte's consultant at Frimley Park, as we have have not had an appointment through yet from St Georges Hospital, London.He is going to chase them for us. We assume they will do a final Brain scan to determine whether or not the fluid on her Brain has indeed gone or if she needs an operation and a Shunt inserted.