07/21/11
Two days after we returned from Wash, Jackson started to have a cough. I thought it was from teething and all the drooling he has been doing. His top 2 teeth are coming in and they seemed to be causing him a lot of pain, drool and finger chewing.
But the cough seemed deeper and more frequent. I listened to his chest and everything sounded fine.
I usually tend to be a bit of an alarmist, but, even I was hesitant to call the pediatrician saying he has a cough. But something felt wrong, so I decided to give it through the night and if it wasn’t better by the next morning I would call the pediatrician.
Jackson went to bed at about 7 and I went to bed around 9, at 10:30 I hear John up talking to someone. I get out of bed and notice that the light is on in Jackson’s room.
Now I’m confused because it seems much later than 10:30 and I don’t know why John would be in Jackson’s room talking. So I ask John what the hell he is doing and he says that Jackson started coughing really loud and that he went in to make sure he was OK, which, he was.
So we put him back to bed and again around 1 I heard him coughing but he went back to sleep. Then again at about 3:30 and 4:30, though at 4:30 he didn’t fall back to sleep. So after I put him down for his am nap I called my mom to make sure I wasn’t overreacting and then I called my pediatrician who told me to bring him in.
This was my first time taking Jackson to the pediatrician by myself and for a sick visit.
We had to go in through the sick door and sit on the sick side. Luckily we were the only ones in the sick waiting area because I was worried about having him in a room full of sick children.
As I sat there staring at the germ covered toys I kept glancing at the well visit side of the office.
Safely divided by a thick glass divider I couldn’t help but feel on the outside looking in. Everyone on the well side was smiling and chatting and if I’m not mistaken looking through the plate glass and shaking there head in disapproval at me. I wanted to run up to the glass, pound my fist and say, “he has a cough not the plague, I’m not a bad mom!”. But alas we were called into see the doctor before I could plead my case.
The pediatrician checked Jack out and then she said to me, “well, he does not have pneumonia”.
Pneumonia?!
I never thought he had pneumonia. It was just a cough. Now I was panicked.
She said he had an upper respiratory virus. Since infant cough and cold meds had been removed from the market that the best thing we could do was get a cool mist humidifier, a nasal aspirator and some saline nasal spray and let it run it’s course in 7-10 days.
Yikes. No cold medicine and 7-10 days sounded mighty long.
I got a great aspirator with the Little Noses nasal spray, it is a perfect fit for Jackson. Though Jackson doesn’t think so, he screams whenever I come near his nose with it.
Luckily the next morning Jackson woke up much like his old self. Happy, playful except for an occasional cough and some stuffiness. The cool mist humidifier really seemed to help.
Since Jack was born I keep saying that I am greatful he hasn’t gotten sick because I don’t know if I could handle it. But the first cold has come and I think I handled it just fine. Not that I want to be sitting on that side of the glass divide anytime soon.
You were so lucky to get by that long without a sick visit!! It is the worse when they are sick! The humidifier is great though. And, just a warning, there will come an age (pretty soon if not already) where he not let you go near him with that aspirator. It sucks b/c we can never get the crud out and it always turns into a cough. We were watching C for pneumonia around the New Years and the MD told me to make sure he was breathing about 30 per minute. If more then quickly let them know. Also, makes sure there fever doesn't spike. That caused a febrile seizure and we were PANICKED!!! How is Jackson's diaper rash doing?
The aspirator we bought is AWESOME!. It is battery operated and sucks EVERYTHING out. The best $20 we spent on baby gadgets. Got it at CVS, but BRU has it now too.