Monday, October 18, 2010

Learning more about being mommy

Doctors must love first time moms. Everything is new and everything is a question. This time it's been my turn. As far as first time moms go, I think I've had it pretty easy for the most part. Other than a double ear infection at 5 months old, H3 hasn't been sick at all. Sure, her nose dripped a bit when she cut her teeth, but that's normal from what I understand and that information was readily available online for my research. Tantrums and pickiness with food have been the worst battles, and my cousins, in-laws, and friends have been wonderful with their words of advice1 This last weekend has been a new challenge.

H3 woke up on Saturday morning with a hoarseness in her voice and a cough that sounded like a seal. When I checked her temperature, it was about 100.7. By the time her nap was done in the afternoon, it was 102.9. Even with Tylenol, her temp hovered around 102, and finally hit 103.3 at 10:30 that night, which is when she threw up twice too. Warm baths and steam helped, but she was still miserable and the coughing sounded awful. She just lay there limply while H1 or I held her, which is a foreign behavior for my very active 25 month old!

Listening to her cough, I did figure out that my little seal was probably dealing with croup, or something like it. My problem was figuring out how to deal with it. A few websites offered suggestions, but my biggest help has come from my dear cousin and a friend from church who has 5 kids. Thanks to them, I feel more at ease while trying to help my little one cope with this. We did take H3 into an urgent care center on Sunday, just to make sure there wasn't a bacterial infection complicating things. Her pediatrician's office wanted her to be seen within 24hours and not wait until Monday (today) because her fever had been so high and she was pretty dehydrated on Saturday. Sunday H3 drank a lot more water, so her temp stayed a bit lower than Saturday. She even played a little, as opposed to laying on the couch and staring into space.

Today she seems a lot better for the most part. Her temperature is hanging around 100 degrees, and she is still coughing and hoarse, but she is more active and eating better. Unfortunately the diarrhea kicked in. Gross, I know, and poor child has been through 7 of those diapers this morning before her nap. I feel a bit more prepared for that though, since she's had a sensitive digestive system since day 1!

Bascially I'm assuming stories like this sound familiar to those who have been moms for a while, but as a mom of just one, this has been a new challenge for me! Now I know what to look for if this happens again, and maybe it will be a little less scary.

1 comment:

Carissa Blanchard said...

It doesn't matter how many children I have...every time they get sick I HATE it! Such a hopeless feeling and doctors usually say, "just wait it out." Much faith and prayer is required in being a Mommy of any age or experience! I'm glad I could help a little, croup is especially scary but thankfully it goes away quickly and now that you've had experience with it, if it comes back, you'll know what to do! :o)