Family Friday: Feb 1

21 Weeks Old

This. week. was. hard.

In the past few weeks, I've oddly had numerous people ask if Cameron had gotten sick yet.  I happily responded that she had not.  In last week's Family Friday post I wrote that babies raised with pets during their first year are less likely to get sick and have allergies.  (That's less likely, not unlikely.)  Therefore, I shouldn't have been surprised when Murphy came knocking at our door this week with a cold for Cameron.

Last Sunday she developed a fever of 101.6 and a little cough.  Our pediatrician was closed but luckily one of my amazing neighbors is a doctor.  She came over, gave Cameron a little check up, and put my mind at ease.  Just a cold virus coming on, nothing that looked serious.  With some acetaminophen, the fever stayed around 100.  Sunday night, Cameron slept in her old bassinet on my bed so that I could keep an eye on her.  I must have woken up and taken her temperature a dozen times that night.

By Monday morning the fever was completely gone.  I thought we lucked out with a 24-hour bug... I was wrong.  Monday was pretty good but from Tuesday on (including today and most likely the coming weekend) is a blur of mucous, coughing, congestion, and sleep deprivation.

It is so hard having a sick baby because there isn't much you can do to help them.  You can't give them any medication, you simply have to wait it out.  I'm doing all that I can do... I have a humidifier in her bedroom for naps and nighttime, I'm using nasal saline drops and a suction bulb for her nose (which is a futile battle), and we sat in a steam shower together a few times.  Laying flat for sleeping is difficult for her.  Her nose gets extra congested causing her to violently toss her head from side to side and rub her face.  So at 3am Tuesday morning I lugged her swing from the kitchen up the stairs to her bedroom so that she could sleep inclined.  It helps considerably but she still has a rough time sleeping through the night.  That means that I'm not getting much sleep either.

I have to drink a small pot of coffee every morning just so that I can minimally function through the day.  When she naps, I usually nap as well because I'm exhausted.  I even fell asleep on the kitchen floor this week (on the carpet at least).  I am sneezed on, coughed on, and spit up on all day so now I'm afraid that I may be catching what she has and I'm quite sure that I look as bad as I feel.  This week and next are the final two weeks of my Beachbody Insanity challenge and it's just not happening.  I didn't have the energy to exercise at all this week and I'm not sure how next week will be.  I suppose getting Cameron and myself healthy again is much more important.  Exercise can wait until we're better.

Nose bubbles... gross but funny :)

On a more positive note:  Cameron has been trying so hard every day (despite being sick) to roll from her back to her stomach and tonight she did it!  She often got frustrated but I kept myself from ever helping her.  I feel that it's important for her to achieve things on her own so that she can feel proud of herself and build self-confidence.  I took took video of her efforts all week and actually got her first successful roll on video as well.  I will edit the all of the videos together and post it next week.  Since her first roll this evening, she rolled twice more before bedtime... she is so proud of her new ability!

Cameron also had her first laughing fit this week.  This wasn't just normal giggling which she has been doing for quite some time, this was full-out loud body-shaking belly-laughing!  Cam was sitting on my lap on the floor and Dulce came over and sat in front of us.  I had Dulce lay down and roll over, which is nothing new.  Cameron had seen Dulce do this many times before, but suddenly she thought it was the funniest thing ever!  I had Dulce roll over at least 10 more times and every time she did, Cameron exploded with body-shaking laughter.  It was hilarious!  I wonder if she is amazed that Dulce can do so easily what she has been trying so hard to accomplish :)

*******

“Infancy is a time of great dependence. Nevertheless babies should

be allowed to do things for themselves from the very beginning.”

~Magda Gerber