First Bout Defeat

My first bout and I am defeated. I am not defeated because I was unprepared. I was not mentally ready for this fight and it did not help that I was under the weather. I started preparing well in advance.

Long before my daughter arrived, I purchased plenty of first aid and medicine kits for the just in case. If babies r us and Target sold it I bought it, God forbid it received a lot of mom reviews and ratings over a 3.  I would rather spend the money so I have it when she needs it versus she needs it and I am unprepared scrambling to find a store and what I am looking for.  I am a planning, list making, preparing fool; I am a Mommie that plans to plan.

I am grateful that her first bout with illness is at 10 months and not earlier, I contribute this to breast milk. The saddest thing to watch is her nasal passage congestion and she not knowing to do about it. She is so confused with the congestion in her nose and snot running down her face. I, myself hate being congested. I can deal with a chest cold for a month of Sundays but I can not function with nasal congestion. It is the most frustrating thing ever, I instantly become anxious when I can not breathe thank the Lord I do not have asthma.

The first night I realized she was not feeling well I tried to put her to bed, but every 45 mins or less she would wake up again when she normally sleeps through the night.  After running to her beckoning bellow  to pacify and rock her back to sleep 5-6 times I finally took her from her bed and laid her next to me. Even then she woke up every 45 mins short of breath, panting, coughing and crying. This continued until the morning. Thankfully she slept a lot peacefully during the day because we both needed the rest.

To deal with my baby’s nasal congestions:

• Saline drops in each nostril, as directed. We are using Little Noses because I have the medicine kit.
• Suctioning her nostrils
• Electric Vicks Vaporizer
• Baby Vicks Vapor Rub on her nose
• The Humidifier has been running none stop
• She is sleeping on a pillow to keep her head elevated for drainage
• I am alternating dabbing a warm wash cloth and toilet paper to remove the running snot from her nose. I do not want to irritate her little nose by rubbing or blowing as I would my nose.
• I tried to show her how to blow her nose by blowing my nose because the entire household is sick but she only laughs…so much for that.

In addition the little running nose my daughter has a pretty mean cough going but I believe the cough is to be attributed to mucus. Again, my little one has no idea what is going on that when she coughs now there is a large lump of gummy liquid at the back of her throat. As soon as I hear her cough and the mucus rattle I try to run to her get her to spit it out. She always swallows before I have the opportunity to remove the mucus. I imagine it is her natural instinct until she is older and I can teach her to spit out the mucus.

I am delighted there is not a fever associated with this small bout, so I am not giving her any meds. I have attempted to increase her liquid intake particularly juice (vitamin C) and water.

It is such a strain to see your baby sick knowing that you are not able to fix the problem immediately. Sure there is a proper routine for every illness but there is still the waiting time until your little one is back to normal. To see her crying from her coughs and sneezing makes me wish I can take her illness away, I am willing to be congested for her.