The (first) Scare

Okay, last night was not such a good one. Becoming-A-Mom was doing a night shift, so as of 6:30 pm I was on my own with Juliette. We had a nice evening together, me playing her and “reading” books with her prior to putting her to bed.

At about 7 pm I took her to the bedroom and got her ready for sleep. This ritual consists of putting her into her sleeping bag, then propping her up against a couple of pillows and feeding her a bit of yoghurt (my breasts are not able to rise to the occasion). After giving her a sip of water and then a big hug, I put her into her crib to sleep. She pulled on one of the toys on the side of the crib which plays Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and quickly and quietly drifted off to sleep.

About 8:30 pm I heard her start to cough, a deep resonating cough that was unlike her normal little get-attention or choking on water coughs. This was accompanied by laboured breathing as she was all congested. She was crying quietly to herself, more of a self-pitying unhappy cry than one of anger or fright. After a couple of minutes it was clear that the coughing was getting worse so I went in and picked her up.

First thing I noticed was that she was hot to the tough – not sweaty, but hot. She had a bit of a glazed look in her eyes and seemed happy to see me but very subdued. She definitely was congested – I could hear the mucus in her nose as she tried to breathe.

I had a minor panic attack at this point. Not really knowing what to do I held her close and picked up the phone to call Becoming-A-Mom for advice. Yes, sad to say but I have never had any experience with such sudden-onset sickness in Juliette before and had no idea what I should be doing. I was a bit shocked by it all – after all, only 1-1/2 hours earlier she seemed fine.

A quick call later and I had a better handle on things. I took her temperature (under her armpit) – it was 38C, high but not outrageous. I gave Juliette some baby Tylenol and got the brilliant idea to use some of that saline nasal clearing stuff that Becoming-A-Mom used to help clear Juliette’s nose.

I sat Juliette between my legs on the bed and quickly gave her a shot of saline in one nostril. She was furious! With a terrifyingly angry look she let out the loudest wails imaginable, fighting me off with both hands while trying to wiggle away. I sprayed again into the other nostril (and around the room in my valiant attempt to keep on target) which elicited more shrieks and wails. I vainly tried to wipe her nose with tissues after this, but she was so angry with me it was all I could do to hold on to her.

To try and make it up to her I told her I was sorry and held her close. She was having none of it – she beat me with both tiny hands and threw herself back and forth trying to escape my grip. I put her in her crib, hoping she’d calm down and go to sleep – nope. Finally I picked her up and walked out into the hallway, rocking her back and forth. That slowly did the trick and within 5 minutes she had calmed down and was hugging me back.

I took her back to bed and she fell asleep almost instantly.

She woke up crying at 4 am – this time I fed her a bit of yoghurt, gave her some water, checked her temperature (normal) and gave her a bit more baby Tylenol. Back to sleep she went until about 7:30 am, but she kept coughing and snuffling every 20-30 minutes which kept me awake the whole time.

At 7:30 we got up and I fed her a bit of breakfast. I called in to work to tell them I wasn’t coming in today then set about trying to get Juliette changed into a new diaper. We were playing together when we heard Becoming-A-Mom open the door and enter – both of us were quite relieved then.

Long story short, Juliette went back to bed with Becoming-A-Mom around 10 am until noon. She woke up with a 38.9C temperature and was not very happy. More baby Tylenol, sips of water, a bit more yoghurt and an hour later she was almost back to normal.

This went on all day, and now I’m exhausted. Partly from lack of sleep from last night, and partly from being a little bit stressed.

Worst part is Juliette went to bed around 7:00 and since then she’s been waking up every 20-30 minutes crying or talking to herself. It’s now time for me to go check what’s up and go to bed myself.

Wish me luck.