Daily Peep: Poor Baby

For those of you not following along on Twitter, it seems that Peeper has a cold.


It shouldn't surprise us, really, because she's seemed a little "off" all week.

Actually, Shrike noticed it first, and mentioned it on Monday. She had pooped three times that day, which is very unusual for her (it's usually more like once every two or three days), and Shrike said that she just didn't seem quite herself, all around.

There's nothing (other than the poop frequency, which has continued all week) that we could really put a finger on, she's just seemed a little fussier and grumpier than usual.

She's also not been overly interested in solid food, other than Cheerios.

I was chalking that up to the new and excitingness of the Cheerios, and the fussiness to always wanting to be "walking" somewhere these days, so less willing to sit and play, or even to sit and cuddle (unless she's nursing and/or sleeping).

Then she starting to sound a bit congested over the past fourty-eight hours or so, and this morning, she woke up around six o'clock, crying.

She very rarely wakes up crying in the middle of the night. (6 am is "the middle of the night" for us.) She stirs and roots and nurses back to sleep, but almost never gets awake and cries.

I got up and brought her to the "goody chair" in front of the computer and she went right back to sleep, but was up again an hour later.

This time, she had a dirty diaper, and also felt hot. We took her temperature and it was a bit over 99 F under her arm.

I left a voicemail for her doctor's office, hoping they could see her today, but when the nurse called back she said they were all booked up, and just asked me a bunch of questions.

She said that it sounds like she's picked up a "bug that's going around," and what they've been seeing with it is about 5 - 7 days of cold symptoms, and some kids have had some vomiting and diarrhea with it as well. (She said that she might just get away with the more frequent poops.)

Basically, the nurse said that as long as she's nursing well not to worry about the solid food (I knew that and wasn't concerned at all; I'd only mentioned it as part of the "she's not herself" thing.), and to give her Tylenol or Motrin for fever, and she's not on the upswing by Monday or Tuesday (or if it gets really bad) to give them a call.

She also said that we could run a humidifier, and put saline drops up her nose then suction it out, and put some rolled-up blankets under the end of her crib mattress to elevate her head while she sleeps.

Or, we could hang out in the bathroom while a hot shower runs, and (try to) put breastmilk up her nose then (try to) suction it and let her sleep in my lap with her head slightly elevated.

She's not done much today other than sleeping and nursing, mostly at the same time.

I figure that has to be a good thing, because she's getting rest, fluids and antibodies.

And I'm not having to chase after her, which is definitely a good thing, because now my throat feels scratchy and I am starting to feel icky.

I am really glad Shrike is going to be off work the next couple of days.