One of the challenges we’ve faced with Stacallen deals with health. First she had some jaundice. She was just fine when she left the hospital less than 36 hours after birth, but within the next few days she did develop some jaundice. So we had to put her under the lights at home and in order for the insurance company to cover the cost of the lights, we had to take her back to the dr’s office every day for blood draws. What a pain that was! How are mom and baby supposed to rest (and stay away from sick people) if we have to wake up first thing every morning to go to the dr’s office to draw blood? Of course, it was no fun seeing her get poked each day either. She certainly didn’t like it.
Then, there were the sniffles. Our son had been battling a runny nose from before Stacallen’s birth. Then he started coughing. Then he ran a fever for about 3 days. Of course, he always wanted to hug and kiss his sister and lay next to her when she was in bed. We tried to keep him away, but how do you tell a 2-yr-old that he can’t love his new baby sister? I tried explaining that he can’t cough near her, that he needs to wash his hands before he comes by her. I think it did help some, but she still caught a bit of the congestion. Thankfully, she hasn’t gotten a fever, but she did start coughing. So, we took her back to the dr and got some antibiotics because one of her ears was just beginning to look infected. Thank goodness we took her in when we did so that we could catch the infection early.
The medicine seems to be working. Stacallen’s sleeping better at night. The congestion had started to interrupt her sleep and make it tough for her to get back to sleep at night. Also, she seems to be coughing less, so that’s good. She does still have a bit of congestion, but hopefully that will all go away as we finish up the antibiotics.
I do not like seeing any of my kids sick and under the weather. I wasn’t sure if we would be able to give Stacallen anything to help, but I’m glad there is something to help her get over the congestion she has. Hopefully whatever antibodies I have in my milk help too.