Archive for the 'sick' Category

30
Mar
12

Oh Frida!

Morgan is growing like a weed. She is now somewhere around the 14 pound mark, I think. She is 5 months old and already has a tooth and is very nearly crawling. Time is flying.

Last week she had yet another cold. I kept trying to aspirate her nose with one of those rubber bulb syringes from my baby care kit.

 If you’ve used one of these, you know that babies hate them. At least my babies do. My girls turn away whenever I try to use it, and usually the whole ordeal ends with a lot of crying and me giving up. Since Morgan was hospitalized at an early age, I learned the importance of keeping her nose as clear as possible when she’s got a cold. But the bulb syringe has been difficult.

 

Enter solution: NoseFrida! a.k.a The Snotsucker Nasal Aspirator.

Before you use it, you have to get over the concept… or to be frank, the possibility that you might end up sucking up some of your baby’s snot. But really, it’s pretty unlikely. This thing was designed in Sweden and is way more effective than a bulb syringe, and they say even more powerful than the commercial suction machines because it’s powered by a stronger sucker–the human lungs! Yes, you have to suck the snot out yourself. But don’t panic, it’s totally hygenic with filters and a very long tube so you’re not going to get anything in your mouth… although I guess in theory you could. Anyway, with this I was actually able to clear out Morgan’s mucus so that both she and I could get some rest at night when her cold was at its worst. Go to the website, think about it. My older daughter didn’t learn to blow her nose until she was over the age of 2, and kids get a LOT of colds. This is going to be one handy device for the next 18 months!

12
Jan
12

Jinxed

I have clearly been too vocal about how well things were going. Right after my last post, Maya woke up with a terrible case of diarrhea. Honestly! I can’t believe it. Not only that, Morgan had been sleeping up to 8 hours a night and she went back down to 3 hour stretches last night. Maya who had been getting up at 6am slept until 8:30, but the baby woke up at 6:30–Murphy’s Law!

Maya’s newest stomach problems decided to begin at the exact time that her friend arrived for a play date, and right when the baby woke up screaming with gas pains. Maya’s anxiety over having “splat poo” as she calls it has been reborn, only much more intense this time, as she screamed hysterically that she wanted me to “make it stop” in between accidents because she couldn’t make it to the toilet on time, poor kid!

My gracious friend departed pretty quickly and I don’t blame her.  She’s 38 weeks pregnant and came with her little boy who is the same age as Maya. The morning was supposed to be a relaxing relief for her, instead she was holding my baby while I ran around helping Maya with her hysteria and clean-up. What a scene! Thank you, Universe, I am officially humbled… please forgive my hubris.

28
Oct
11

Baby’s birthday eve

Well, I’d love to say things are going well and we’re all ready to go. But sadly this is not the case. Maya has a terrible stomach flu and has been vomiting nonstop for hours. My husband has some sort of other flu bug and I am going in for a c-section in less than 10 hours. This is the craziest night ever!

14
Oct
11

fingers crossed

One thing I’m thankful for is that we still have our little monkey in full-time daycare (at least until the end of this month). This means if I get up and help get her out the door, my husband drops her off and I can rest for most of the day. But yesterday I got this call from her daycare providers saying she had a low grade fever and was acting tired and perhaps might be coming down with something. They didn’t think I needed to come get her, but they wanted to let me know what was happening so I could be prepared to get her if she got worse. Being at home I felt guilty, and thought to myself, “if she needs to rest and I’m home, I should pick her up”. It was tough to get out of bed and bring her home but she actually was pretty mellow and took a long nap which allowed me to do the same.

Then, lo and behold, I actually slept last night without having to take medication through the night (except my friend Mr. Gaviscon). I am attributing this new feeling of improvement to having made my grandmother’s homemade chicken soup yesterday… she calls it “Jewish penicillin”, and I think she’s on to something.

Maybe I’m going to kick this nasty illness after all and have some enjoyable relaxation time before baby arrives? Keeping my fingers crossed.




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