Is This How You Catch A Cold?

Well, Cutie Pie did it again. He caught another cold.

This time Cutie Pie got his germs from me. I was absolutely miserable over the weekend. We were supposed to go meet a friend's new baby but the evil cold put a halt to our plans. We know all too well that new babies shouldn't be around sick people. When Cutie Pie was born, our Doctor all but drilled that into our heads. I had to do the responsible thing. I stayed home and sniffled. I was devastated that day, not because I felt sick, but because I couldn't stand to be trapped in the house for another day. I love spending more time at home with Cutie Pie but I also love going out. Unfortunately, there are only so many places I can take a nine month old. I get excited every time I get to leave the house.

I was quite proud of myself for keeping Cutie Pie germ free during my cold. I kept my hands washed and avoided sneezing and coughing when I held him. I did everything those Swine Flu people have been telling us to do. I guess I didn't do as good a job as I thought, Cutie Pie woke up this morning with a drippy nose and no appetite. It's amazing to me that Cutie Pie can be so sick but keep smiling. I wish I could be more like him.

http://theadventuresofcutiepie.blogspot.com/

RV to the Rescue!

Last weekend, we traveled to a destination wedding in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina. As we prepared for our trip, Cutie Pie tried to sabotage our plans by developing yet another nasty cold. The night before we were set to leave on our marathon car ride, Cutie was stayed up coughing and crying. It soon became apparent that traveling was not in the cards.

At eight months of age it is not developmentally appropriate to take an eight hour car trip. Any parent who disagrees with me is crazy. That's right, I said it. Cutie Pie is an active little guy. He wants to be crawling and practicing his walking skills at every waking moment. He can hardly sit still to eat! We knew that trying to strap him in a car seat for a long period of time was going to be hell on wheels. When Cutie Pie added the illness to the equation, we decided the trip just wasn't meant to be.

Then Cutie Pie's Papa offered to let us use his RV for the trip. Sure gas would be expensive, but seeing our friend get married in the mountains would be priceless. Taking the RV was the perfect solution. Cutie Pie was able to interact with everyone during the trip, which meant he stayed entertained and happy, mostly.

Cutie Pie seemed to enjoy his first big road trip. It was really neat to watch him stare out at the mountains for the first time and play in the creek where I once played as a child. The wedding was great and the bride was beautiful. What a great weekend!

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Where are all these bugs coming from?

Just when I thought my biggest problem was the swine flu vaccine. Cutie Pie caught the real flu and gave me something real to worry about. Well, I don't know if it's really the FLU, since it's July and all. But it's making him miserable and it has created a horrible mess in my house. Cutie Pie wore every shirt he owns today. I've also washed every crib sheet and blanket in the house. Sometimes it is such fun to be a Mom.

Da Da caught the bug too. I don't know how he manages to get everything Cutie Pie gets. I'm starting to wonder if the boys are purposely getting sick together to gang up on me and drive me crazy. I saw the dog outside eating grass and told her, "OH no you don't! I've got enough sickness to clean up without you too!"

Cutie Pie has been asleep for twenty minutes, which makes it officially his longest nap of the day. Finally, I have some time to tackle that laundry.

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Here We Go Again

The drama continues. Cutie Pie appeared to be better today. He woke up smiling from ear to ear. He played with his toys and chased the dogs. I took him to the park and he had a blast. Then he came home and took a blissfully long nap. We had the perfect morning. I dropped him off at school this afternoon a happy and well-rested baby. Then a few hours later, I got a call that Cutie Pie's nose was bleeding. The next thing I knew, I had an emergency appointment with the pediatrician and I was flying down the street to get my precious baby.


I arrived at the day care anxious to see my little one but was delayed by an accident report. Apparently, Cutie Pie fell down and bumped his head right after they called me. He added another bruise to the collection on his forehead. I scooped up my little Cutie Pie and whisked him off to the doctor.


I noticed right away that he must have stopped bleeding because I didn't see any evidence of a bloody nose. When we got to the doctor's office the nurse asked why we were there. I explained that Cutie Pie had a cold for the past few days and that today his nose started bleeding at school. She made a face and wrote it down.

Believe me lady, I didn't rush over here on a Wednesday afternoon because I had nothing better to do.

Then she made a comment about the bruises on Cutie Pie's forehead.

Well, I can't leave his helmet on all the time!

Then she said something about how Cutie Pie was trying to stand up on the exam table instead of sit passively while I changed him.

Would you prefer he lay here like a lump?


Feeling like the worst mother in the world, I sat with Cutie Pie in the exam room and waited for the doctor while trying to entertain my half-naked eight month old in a doctor's office with only the toys I could find in the back seat of my car. When the doctor finally arrived he said the bloody nose was caused by a scratch, probably from a bulb syringe and was no big deal. Once again, he pronounced my Cutie Pie perfect, except for a cold.


Hooray! This crisis is over! I could feel the weight lifting from my shoulders. But then he said something that scared me all over again. Those two top teeth are going to come out any day now.

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Cough, cough, SCREAM!

Cutie Pie doesn't like coughing. He's caught another cold. Here we go again. I haven't slept since Sunday afternoon. This cold has been a bad one. He's perfectly happy when he's awake but once he's sleepy, watch out! Cutie Pie doesn't like waking up. He really doesn't like coughing himself awake. That's when the screaming starts.

I feel completely helpless and miserable for him. You would think that in the year 2009, we would have some kind of remedy for the common cold or at least something to relieve a baby's symptoms. But no, they are forced to suffer through their stuffy noses like it's the stone age. No grown up would put up with that kind of congestion without taking something. It is so sad that my baby has to sniffle and cough just because he's little.

I'm trying to do what I can to help the little guy. We propped up his mattress with a pillow to elevate his head. The humidifier is cranking out steam so fast it feels like the Bahamas in his nursery. Unfortunately, it's not so easy for me to do the other things I need to do to help Cutie Pie breathe. He hates those saline drops and the nose aspirator. He fights and squirms as soon as he sees them. I try to smile brightly and trick Cutie Pie into thinking he likes getting things shoved up his nose but he cannot be fooled. He cries and screams. Then I have to fight back my own tears. It would be so much easier to just give in and let him stay stuffy. But in the long run, he is better off getting that mucus out of his nose. Being a good parent is heartbreaking.

http://theadventuresofcutiepie.blogspot.com/

Cutie Pie is Back!

What a long week it has been! Last Thursday I went to pick up Cutie Pie from school and I heard two of the most horrifying words I have ever heard: Pink-eye. Cutie Pie had been exposed! Now at face value these words don't seem alarming. Pink is a pretty color. Eyes aren't scary. But I soon found out just how terrifying these words can be.

The next morning, I took my puffy, crusty-eyed baby to the doctor. Cutie Pie put on his usual show of flirting with the nurses and trying to snatch the stethoscope out of the doctor's ears. We were given a prescription for fancy eye drops and sent home with instructions to lay low until the illness passed.

Unfortunately for me, Cutie Pie's Daddy was out of town so I had to entertain a mobile seven month old by myself all weekend. Cutie Pie didn't like the eye drops. He cried like his world had ended each time he saw the drops come close to his face. No toy or song could distract him from that medicine bottle. Not even Old McDonald!

When Cutie Pie doesn't feel good, Cutie Pie doesn't sleep. My little boy becomes his alter ego, Mr. Crankypants. He stays up all night, loudly protesting everything Mommy tries to make him happy. No toys! No swing! No blanky! Poor Cutie Pie. Poor Mommy!

Cutie Pie got restless spending all that time at home with no one but a tired Mommy to play with. He grew bored of chasing the dogs and began working on his pulling up skills. He mastered the coffee table and the couch but the dining table is still a little tricky. He fell a few times and earned some new bumps and bruises.

Somehow we made it through the weekend. I was so excited to get back into our routine on Monday. I got all dressed up in grown up clothes and was walking out the door when Cutie Pie threw up all over both of us. Here we go again.

Cutie Pie went back to the doctor. He had a sore throat that caused him to cough each time something touches his throat, including drool and food. So he pretty much coughed all day and night. And when he coughed too hard, he threw up.

So my staycation continued with Cutie Pie. In between baths, I got a crash course in Pedialyte. I discovered that the clear stuff is way better than the flavored stuff. Why would you give a baby, who is already throwing up, a liquid with dye in it? That is just asking for trouble. As if it's not bad enough that you're going to have to do a million loads of laundry, you've got to scrub colorful dye out of all the bibs too!

Thank goodness for Cutie Pie's Grandma. She took pity on us and came to help out today. She spent the day with my coughing, grumpy Cutie Pie so I could take a break and go to the office. She must have the magic touch because he is feeling much better tonight and is actually sleeping! It's been a long week but Cutie Pie is back!

http://theadventuresofcutiepie.blogspot.com/

Back to Work

Now that I am back at work, it's back to pumping breast milk for my Cutie Pie. Each day while I am at work I have to make Cutie Pie's lunch for the next day. It is not always easy.

Breastfeeding on the job is a tricky affair. First you need privacy. Luckily I have an office with no windows. Next you need an electrical outlet to plug in the pump. I have the hardest working outlet ever. It powers a computer, a lamp, the filter for my fish tank, my radio, my digital photo frame with pictures of Cutie Pie constantly playing on a loop all day and now my electric pump. Then you need something to cover up the woosh, woosh noise of the pump. Thank you, radio. A lock on the door is a must. Check! Finally, you need time to actually pump. This one can be a bit complicated.

Sometimes I think I have discreetly slipped into my office when I hear, "Bang, bang, bang! Are you in there? I need to talk to you!" I don't know about you but I just don't feel comfortable having a conversation through the door while I am pumping a bottle. I know you probably think that is strange but I don't like it when people talk to me in public bathrooms either. Boundaries, people! Anyway, my dilemma here is that my coworkers do not know what I am doing but they know I am in my office so they think that I am ignoring them. This has actually caused some conflicts for me in the office. Pumping takes up time that I really should be working. I have gotten quite good at holding my pump while typing and writing. The only thing I absolutely refuse to do is answer the phone.

I have to schedule pumping into my already very busy day and sometimes my schedule doesn't go as planned. Today was full of emergency appointments and surprises. I had to rush through appointments to get people out of my office to avoid having an accident. When you have to pee really bad, you can still hold it. But when it's time to make a bottle, it's time to make a bottle!

Breastfeeding also pays a physical toll on me. My hair is falling out in clumps. It's amazing that I haven't gone bald! I often feel exhausted because it takes so much of my energy. As if it weren't tiring enough to be the mother of an almost six month old baby who remembers that he is teething several times a night!

No matter how hard it gets, it is totally worth it to me to pump for my Cutie Pie. Even though I can't be with him all day, at least I am still feeding him and that helps assuage my crushing guilt at being a working mom. I realize that I am very lucky to have an understanding employer and my own office for privacy. We have noticed that Cutie Pie doesn't get sick as often as the other babies in his class. That fact alone makes it worth the sacrifice. As you know, I don't do well with sick babies!

Also on the bright side, I get to eat like a man twice my size and still lose weight! Best diet ever!

http://theadventuresofcutiepie.blogspot.com/

Baby's First Pandemic

At 3:00am this morning, I was awakened by a thunderous sound coming from the baby monitor. Before I knew I was awake, I had already run halfway across the house on my way to Cutie Pie. Still bleary eyed, I looked down at my Cutie Pie's crib to see a very unhappy baby coughing violently. Now I know I'm not supposed to pick up the baby every time he makes noise at night, at least that's what everyone says. So I stared at him for a moment trying to figure out what I am supposed to do. I gave him his pacifier, I put Baby Vicks on his chest and I rubbed his back when he rolled over on his stomach. He wasn't fully alert yet but the way he was coughing, I knew I didn't have long before I had a wide awake coughing baby. Sure enough, in a short time I saw my little Cutie Pie's eyes, looking up at me and heard the first of many cries. Cutie Pie told me it was time to stop doing what everyone says and pick him up NOW!

For the next two hours we rocked in the rocking chair, we nursed, we tried walking around the house, we tried sitting in the swing, we used the saline solution, we used the aspirator and when nothing could stop Cutie Pie's coughs, my mind naturally turned to the Swine Flu. Now that I'm a Mom, I have to worry about these things. Maybe I'm not worried enough. We've got a hurricane plan and we know what to do in case of a fire or a tornado. Some of my friends who watch too many horror movies even have an alien plan and a zombie plan! Should I have some kind of a Pandemic Plan for keeping my family safe? I started reviewing the symptoms in my head. Cough- check, body aches- well, he seems unhappy, lethargic- no, he seems pretty wide awake, fever- nope! Hooray! Cutie Pie is safe from the pandemic!

But what could be making him cough like this? I think I read in one of those books that sometimes babies cough a lot because they swallowed something and it got caught in their windpipe. I wonder if Cutie Pie will open his mouth and let me have a look back there. He was nursing right then so I decided to hold off on inspecting Cutie Pie's tonsils, when all of a sudden he let out a monstrous cough that I'm sure they heard in China. This was followed by projectile vomit, the kind I've only seen in movies. Hooray! I immediately decided Cutie Pie must not be choking. If he'd had something stuck in there it surely would have come flying out. I've never been so happy to see a baby throw up.

Around 5:30am, Daddy came in and immediately identified the problem: the humidifier wasn't working. He fixed it and Cutie Pie soon stopped coughing. He was out like a light by 6:00am and slept in until 9:00am. Lucky me!

There are two things I learned about being a Mom last night. One, apparently I tend to overreact when I don't have enough sleep. Two, next time Daddy should get up to check on the baby.

One of Those Moms

Cutie Pie had his first "sick visit" to the doctor this week. He woke up sweaty and screaming. He had a fever of 101 on Friday morning. I immediately gave him Tylenol and called the doctor. Lucky us, we got an appointment just a few hours later! We sat down on the "sick side" of the doctor's waiting room and suddenly Cutie Pie was acting like his old self again. He smiled at everyone who walked by. He flirted with the other babies. He played with his toys and laughed out loud when he dropped them. When we finally got called back to the doctor's office, the nurse looked at me like I was "One of Those Moms." (You know who "Those Moms" are; the ones everyone rolls their eyes about at lunch time later.) Of course he didn't have a fever anymore, thanks to the Tylenol. The doctor could find no signs of infection so he sent us home, assuring me that there is no reason to worry until Cutie Pie gets a real fever of 103 or higher.

Fast forward to three hours later. Once again, Cutie Pie wakes up sweaty and screaming. And what do you know? 103.0! So I call the doctor AGAIN! Now they talk to me like I might have a sick baby. Ha! And they thought I was just "One of Those Moms!"

The irony is I spent all week talking myself out of calling the doctor. I spend way too much time worrying about being "One of Those Moms." He had a slight fever for a couple of days but everyone (you know everyone has an opinion!) told me he was probably just teething so I sat on my hands and didn't call. Of course, I can't just take care of a sick baby without opening up a book or two and searching the internet for his symptoms. Did you know that if a baby has purple spots, you should rush him to the doctor immediately because this could be a life or death situation? Did you know that freckles and indentations from tight clothes can sort of look like purple spots? Have you realized that I probably am "One of Those Moms?" I'm trying keep it to myself.