Last Monday when I woke up I thought Lily might be coming down with something because she coughed a once or twice in the middle of the night and that is very unusual.  As the day past I figured I was being overly paranoid because Lily was playing and have a lot of fun with her cousin Bryce.  Then about 3 in the afternoon I noticed Lily was really warm and took her temp and it was just over 100.  She and I spent the rest of the afternoon in our bedroom snuggling.  At dinner time she didn’t touch her food and pretty much just snuggled on my lap the whole time.  After a useless dinner we got ready for bed and then she was playing again so I figured she was doing a little better, boy was I wrong.  At bedtime we sat down to nurse and when she was just about asleep she threw up on me. The was the first time in her life that she has ever thrown up and the poor girl did it again and again. I just kept rubbing her back and trying to help her feel better. When I took her temp it was just over 103. Waldo went and got my Dr. Sears Baby Book to look up fevers and that made us feel much better.  After about 15 minutes of snuggling and a quick outfit change I got her to drink some ice water and the next thing I know she’s running into the livingroom and running around like a perfectly healthy crazy person. Again I figured she was at least a little better. That night I got so little sleep that I might as well of not laid down at all. Lily nursed just about all night long, coughed her little head off and sneezed approximately 500 times. Most of those sneezes producing a fountain of snot the likes of which I have doubts could fit inside my kids head.

The next four or five days are a blur of more of the same. More fountain producing sneezes, more coughing, more fevers (thankfully they never got over 101 after that one reading of 103, and most of the time it was right around 99-100), more trying to get Lily to eat, more snuggling and lots of nursing. Lily is finally feeling better and I’ve learned a lot during this cold:

• First and foremost I am so glad that I’m still breastfeeding.  Nursing offers Lily nutrition, hydration, antibodies and most/best of all comfort.
• The Nosefrida is an amazing invention.  I bought it a while ago and thought it was pretty useless, but it has really come in handy this week.  Lily knows how to blow her nose but can’t do it strong enough to really get much out, the Nosefrida really helped with this.
• Bathroom steams really helped too.  Dr. Sears recommends turning the shower on as hot as it gets and spend 10-15 minutes in there. It’s suppose to help loosen the nose and chest congestion, and help cough it up or blow it out.  It really helped Lily to breath to combine the streams and the Nosefrida, it worked out great.
• Dr. Sears also suggests Sinupret as a natural sinus booster.  I can’t really say if this did anything or not, but I think it did.
• Baby Tylenol did nothing.  Waldo ran to the store after Lil threw up that first night and got some and we used it a couple of times and I honestly couldn’t tell a difference.
• Did I mention breastfeeding?  Because let me tell you, we did a LOT of it.  My nipples are so sore, sorry for the TMI.  But sore boobs are a small price to pay for Lily feeling comforted and safe.
• Lily’s head can hold a ton of snot.  Those sneezes that cause all of it to come flying out of her nose simply amaze me.
• Putting a little lotion on Lily’s nose is a must, but usually ends up with both us getting lotion all of our faces.
• The Nosefrida has to be used on the “baby” before Lily will let it be used on her.  Lily’s baby dolls have the clearest sinuses around.

This wasn’t Lily’s first cold but probably the second or third of this head cold type and this one seemed to be the worst.  I am so glad that it’s mostly over.

I’m telling you right now, if your kid has a running nose or you sneeze in the area, I’m running for the hills.  I don’t want to deal with this again anytime soon.