Alas, the little SweetPea has her first cold. I whisked her to the After Hours Care with dread in my heart when she started a very wet, productive cough. A cough for an infant under 4 months is usually not a good sign. Lucky enough she was checked out by the doc and seems to be fine. No fevers or wheezing so we are just waiting it out for now. She can hardly breath out of her nose and sneezing sends her into a coughing fit that usually ends with her gagging. That makes my heart skip a few beats!
Once the ol' ticker returns to a normal rate I really get into her face with the BSD (bulbous-sucker-doohickey) that we swiped from the hospital - I'm sure they don't reuse those things, but I like to think I'm stickin' it to 'em after the bill I received! I named it this after asking a dozen times in one hour for "the blue thingy that sucks the gunk out of her nose that we got at the hospital". BSD is much easier, descriptive and succinct! This thing is truly amazing. I can't imagine how she feels about it (I'm sure it's not a good relationship!) but it helps a lot! I get a weirdly gratifying sensation when a long string of green goop comes out of her nose. {sorry if you happen to be eating while reading this!} She usually cries and whips her head side to side, but when I'm done and she can take a good deep breath she looks at me like "oh, thank you!"
Needless to say I haven't been getting much sleep. I have to suck the gunk out at least two or three times in the middle of the night (usually before she's able to nurse). She sounds like a little piglet rooting for its mother at night, and I've been a very light sleeper. Every movement or sound I hop up and check to make sure that she's still breathing. Once she's a sleep though, she seems to do just fine.
I really feel for her. There's not much you can do for a child that small. At least us adults can take OTC drugs to treat the symptoms and feel better if not for just a few hours during the day. I haven't even tried Tylenol as I'm afraid it might mask a fever (we were told to bring her in "right away" if she develops a fever or gets lethargic). Otherwise it's just a waiting game. If she hasn't gotten any better by Friday morning I'm making an appointment with her doctor again. But for now it's a blur of days and nights living with the BSD, humidifiers, and crumpled up tissues littering every flat surface.
I know that this will not be the last cold she ever gets, but it's certainly one that I'll remember for awhile!!
Stay healthy everyone!
1 comment:
Another thing you can do for her is saline drops up the nose. (I use Little Remedies brand, available pretty much everywhere, and there is no actual medicine in it.) If you put a drop in the nose before you "sniffer", it softens up and comes out better. Also sometimes napping/sleeping in her carseat or other semi-upright position can help the stuffiness. Poor baby. Get well soon!
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