Ahhh-Chooo!

The last couple of weeks have been quite interesting for our sweet babe.  About a week and a half ago, on a Friday night, we put our Lucy down for bed.  Chris & I went into the living room to watch some t.v. and heard our sweet doll-baby coughing over and over and over again.  I went and picked her up and rocked her against my chest and called Dr. Ivey.  While talking to him, she started coughing and he was able to hear a bark in her cough.  He said to let her sleep inclined and that he would call us in a steroid medicine to give her for the next 3 days starting the next morning.  This medicine would basically open up her larynx which had gotten swollen, making it easier for her to cough and not bark. 

Lucy takes medicine like a champ.  Thanks to one of my co-workers, Chelsea Williams, Lucy is able to take medicine through a teeny-tiny version of a baby bottle.  When she was really little and would have to give her Tylenol through a syringe, it would shoot right back out at us.  But with this, she sucks it right down without a second thought.  Ms. Jackie was so surprised when she saw how well Lucy took it for her Monday morning dose.  She said "I'm gonna let you give it to her, because those babies hate that medicine.  They spit every bit back out at me."

Well, Monday was the last day of taking that steroid medicine, and on Monday night we were woken up during the middle of the night to her coughing and sounding like she was gasping for air.  It scared me so bad!  She ended up being alright and we all went back to sleep.  However, the next day at daycare, Ms. Jackie mentioned to me that she had done the same thing two more times during the day.  So... I called the Doctor.  (Think they're sick of hearing from this "First Time Mom" yet?)

Dr. Ivey was not in the office on Tuesday and wouldn't be back until Wednesday afternoon.  So I opted to speak to Dr. Samper.  After explaining to him what the circumstances were, he requested that I bring her in "right away" making it sound urgent.  So, I left my class and quickly picked her up from her room and headed straight to the doctor's office.  When we finally got to see him, I began to tell him what had been happening.  And after just looking at her, he told me he thought she was fine.  Now, I'm not going to go into all of the details but basically what I was told at the visit was that it's normal for babies to gasp for air (no, it's not okay for MY baby to gasp for air), that cough medicine is stupid (is this real life?) and that she may or may not have Chlamydia (no, not the vaginal kind -- the bronchial kind -- google it. It's a for real thing apparently.) and that he can't prove or disprove that she has it so she may want to take an antibiotic just in case (Really?  You're a DOCTOR and you can't prove or disprove this? Wow.)  Oh, and he must have been in some leftover Halloween spirit, because he yelled "BOOOOOOOOOO!" at my already crying baby really loudly more than once.  Okay. 

Our sweet pharmacy, Rite Aid at the Milledgeville Mall is full of kind-hearted Pharmacists and Pharmacy Techs that genuinely care about each one of their customers.  They seem to always remember who you are and a bit about yourself, personally, so that they can better connect with you.  It really helps me to trust them better. So, I asked them when I picked up Lucy's medicine (which she may or may not need) what it was and what it was for.  They told me it was an antibiotic and asked if she had an infection.  I told them I had no clue, but they assured me I should still give her the medicine either way, because a.) it couldn't hurt her and b.) the antibiotic will only keep her from getting anything else or getting worse.  That was enough for me.  The Pharmacist also recommended that I get some Baby Vick's Vapor Rub to rub on her chest. Oh, and Lucy's sweet Big Daddy suggested we run a humidifier in her room.  Wow, our poor, sweet, baby was all set.  That night she slept inclined with Vick's Rub on her chest, and a humidifier blowing beside her and the wishy-washy medicine in her system.  She slept like a rock. 

Our contagiously smiling baby lost her smile for a few days and even slept for nearly 15 hours straight with only eating 4 oz. during that time. (Yes, this frightened me.  Dr. Ivey said it was fine as long as she was still producing 4-5 wet diapers.  That babies handled being sick one of two ways -- crying about it or sleeping it off.  She was choosing to sleep it off.  And that since her cough was so productive she didn't know to spit it out and so was just swallowing back down all of that mucus, therefore filling up her belly and not registering that she was "hungry."  She bounced back over the next 24 hours.  Oh, and the gasping was because she would cough and cough and cough without breathing in between, and so would just inhale very deeply and loudly to catch her breath.)

Now today, nearly a week later, our sweet baby is all better!  Her Daddy on the other hand, has gotten the same thing.  Lucky him can take a Z-Pack though. :)