Pitiful

That is the only word I can think to describe baby doll these days. About a month ago, I came down with bronchitis. I thought I had stamped it out, but it flared up again last Friday. The same day Liliana started coughing really hard and you could hear the junk rattling around in her chest. We spent the weekend in Alpine and she kept getting worse. The coughing was accompanied by wheezing, sweating, and fever. I called in sick Monday morning and called Liliana’s doctor to see if there was anything aside from the over the counter baby cough medicine I should be doing for her. At this point she had fussed through much of Sunday night, coughing herself awake and whimpering in addition to not eating with her usual gusto. I listed her symptoms to the nurse and was told to bring her in. So I bundled my baby girl up and headed to the doctor.

I should note that this is the first time I have taken Liliana to the doctor by myself. Mom has always gone with me before, but this time she couldn’t go with us. I was really scared because my baby was having so much trouble breathing and I just didn’t know what to do for her.

We got to the doctor and the nurse immediately noticed how badly she was wheezing. They did a test for something called RSV, which can be deadly for infants, and Dr. Reese listened to her chest, asked some questions and looked at her chest. It was caving in and so Dr. Reese called for a breathing machine. They brought it in and I had to hold the mask up to her little face to help her breath. Thankfully, the RSV test came back negative and the machine stopped her chest from caving when she breathed. Dr. Reese gave me a prescription for the wheezing and another for fighting off pneumonia and told me to keep her indoors with her head elevated when possible, away from public places, and watch her closely for changes.

So I have been home with her the past two days. She finally started eating better today. Yesterday she pretty much would only eat her Pedialite. I keep sucking stuff out of her nose and sucking out the stuff she coughs up as well as giving her the two prescriptions in addition to her Tylenol and cough medicine and sleeping with a vaporizer. It’s just sad to watch because she is fussy and doesn’t really want to play or do much of anything. She’s sleeping more than usual, although it is hard to get her to relax enough to get to sleep.

Everyone keep your fingers crossed that she’ll be her usual bubbly self soon.