Discoveries

Sam is finally on the up and up from this cold she has had. We discovered some interesting things about our daughter through this process.

First, Sam is generally a pleasant baby. It was, then, quite apparent that she doesn't like being sick. It's the only time so far that she's been really fussy. But, even in the middle of feeling lousy and being fussy, she would smile and try to enjoy playing with her toys. She would pick up one she really liked and give a half-hearted smile, shake it a little, and then just look totally wipe out from the effort. It was hard to watch her so obviously not feeling well. If this trend continues; however, I think she's on track for being adaptable. Not such a bad thing to discover!

Second, Sam definitely has opinions. Because she felt so awful, her coping skills were somewhat diminished. As a result, things she had put up with before, she would not allow! She developed a strong dislike for having her nose cleaned out; she decided she didn't like taking her medicine; and she wanted Mommy. It was so hard to drop her off at the day care or my friend's house and have her just cry because she didn't want me to leave. She was fine once I was out of sight and she had a toy to distract her, but I could hear her crying all the way down the hall. That really pulled at my heartstrings. I got over it pretty quickly, though, the next time I tried to clean out her nose or give her medicine. She was a wiggle worm extraordinaire! She would cry so hard that Brent would come running because he thought she was alone and in trouble. Nope, just Mom reeking havoc on Sam's world.

Next, Sam is one of the few children who become excitable when given an antihistamine. We gave her the night time allergy medicine at 7:00 pm and she didn't get drowsy until 11:00 pm. But, she was the happiest little baby. She crawled all over the room, pulled out all her toys and the DVDs, and basically discovered every nook and cranny of the living room. She smiled and cooed and babbled to her heart's content. She was a lot of fun, but we were very tired and ready for her to be asleep. We tried several things to see what would help her feel the best. We decided that Children's Sudafed worked well enough and allowed her to sleep. The Night Time Allergy medicine worked the best, but got her all wired. And Acetaminophen helps the best when she's teething or has a headache. My mom also suggested putting a humidifier in her room when she sleeps to help her cough. That worked wonders. Her room feels like a little rain forest, but she didn't wake herself up coughing all night like she had been doing. And since adding the humidifier to the treatment plan, the rate of recovery has increased.

Sam is practically recovered. She has a slight cough and her nose is a little stuffy first thing in the morning. Other than that, she is her old self again. After all the nose cleaning, she has finally got the hang of blowing her nose. She doesn't blow hard, but she definitely gets air out, and sometimes a little more! She loves to explore and seems to be quite physical in her play. She still loves to throw the ball. The added benefit is now she can also go get it when she throws it off course. I have to say that we are the luckiest parents in the world.