Croup again

So Meo and I are both still sick, but fortunately is hasn't been too bad. I had a fever one night, but Meo hasn't gotten a fever at all. It's mostly been just coughing and runny noses, and tiredness. Unfortunately Meo does have croup again, so at night his coughs have been pretty bad. He has the classic barking seal cough of his trachea tightening up from the croup virus. The first night I tried bringing him into a steamy bathroom, but that wasn't really helping so we brought him outside to see if the cold air would help. Fortunately, it did, and the last few nights we have been taking him for a couple late night walks when his coughing starts to act up. Autumn is certainly in the air now so it has been nice and cool and Meo's lungs have been grateful. Plus, he has been able to lay bundled in his parents arms while he gets walked around and looks at the stars which really isn't such a bad deal. He is usually in bed before the stars are out.

I did take Meo to the doctor yesterday just to make sure he was going to be okay and there wasn't anything else we needed to be doing. We both had to wear masks because we were sick; Meo did not want to keep his on of course.

At the doctors office

"Get this thing off of me!"

She checked his lungs and they sounded perfect, and his ears looked great; no fluids. She said his throat was a little red and swollen, which makes sense because I think we have the same virus and my throat hurt for the first couple days. It also explains why he hasn't been eating much besides frozen blueberries. She told me to make sure to keep him especially hydrated. This has been difficult. First of all, he was having a nursing strike do to his stuffy nose and his gums hurting from teething. Second of all, he won't drink much more than a few sips of water at a time. The doctor told me to try giving him watered down cold juice or Popsicle. He doesn't appear to like juice though, so that hasn't worked. Then, I made some homemade Popsicle using organic juice and pure coconut water (since all the ones at the store were flavored high fructose corn syrup), and he doesn't seem to like them either. I got him to have a little of a Popsicle this morning, but he still doesn't really care for it; he just likes the sticks.

Homemade mango peach Popsicle

One of the 3 nibbles he managed to take

On the bright side, his nursing strike was short lived! On Sunday (it is now Tuesday), he had been refusing to nurse and it was the worst feeling in the world. I wrote about it in my previous post if you haven't seen that yet (here). I tried taking a bath with him, and although he was very interested, he still wouldn't nurse. He ended up not nursing to sleep, so we tried giving him a bottle since we were worried about him not staying hydrated since he was sick. He drank a little, but mostly he just chewed on the nipple.

But then, after he had been sleeping for a couple hours, he woke up with his croup cough, and he decided to try nursing again. It was the most wonderful thing. I know it was not a long time for him to not nurse, but it was so strange for him not to it; it scared me to death. I was so relieved and happy when he started nursing again, I treasured every second of it just in case he would stop again. But he hasn't stopped, and we are back to our happy nursing selves.

I should mention that Meo has such an amazingly awesome temperament, that he doesn't even really act sick. He has been happy as can be and still walking around playing and chatting like normal. He has even been patient with my wiping boogers off his nose. I love my wonderful baby boy!

Trying on Daddy's sweater

Since I have been sick, it has been difficult keeping up with my happy toddler. My body is telling me to relax and sleep, but Meo wants to go go go, so go go go I go. Yesterday I laid in the grass while he ran around exploring the yard with Pi, then I took him for a wagon ride to park to swing and play with his truck and push his wagon around. Its been nice to get some fresh air and a happy baby, but boy do I wish I could spend a day doing nothing! Robbie has been really helpful though. He has been making me healthy snacks, and tea at night to help with my coughing. Last night at 4 am he made me some tea and I went upstairs to drink it alone in the rocking chair. Just having that five minutes alone to relax in the quite with the hot tea soothing my throat was five minutes of heaven. It made me remember the time before I was a mother when I had all the time I wanted for myself. Now, I pretty much never do. Seriously. I don't think I would have ever been able to understand what becoming a mother really entailed until I went through it myself. I probably said I could always make time. But it doesn't really work like that and I understand that now. But I wouldn't go back and change my life; as far as I am concerned, its perfect. It just makes five moments of meditation that much more spectacular and healing and I am grateful for that.

Apples, almond butter, raisins and tea from Robbie

I am also grateful that I have a wonderful spouse that helps me to have a little more time. This morning when I woke up, I brought Meo upstairs and right away he started signing "more" indicating that he is hungry and wants to eat immediately. He hasn't been patient in the mornings lately because he wants to eat right away (I am like that too when I am hungry), so I was looking for something quick. I was beginning to dread the thought of having to make coffee: clean out the dirty french press, fill up the water heater, scoop out the beans, wait for it to brew; its not hard, but by the time I am done Meo is usually ready to move on and I don't even get to enjoy a sip. But when I went over to the coffee pot, to my amazement, it was clean and full of fresh ground beans. AND the water heater was full, and there was a spoon there ready for me to stir it with. All I had to do is add the water. Robbie left me a little note too; I was beyond grateful! Then I went over to get a cup and realized I had to try to empty the dishwasher. But when I opened it up, it was already empty with another note from Robbie! Ecstasy! Robbie seriously made my morning about a hundred times easier. Not because making the coffee and emptying the dishwasher are particularly hard, but because I have such a tight schedule to keep in the morning, I don't even get to enjoy breakfast! Today I did. Thank you Robbie, I love you!

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