Emma is not the luckiest person when it comes to sickness. I wouldn't necessarily say that she is more sick than the average kid, but sometimes it sure seems that way. After battling with being sick since just before Halloween until almost new year's, we finally had a break. Well, that break ended last Friday. Emma started coughing a little, and it just kept getting worse. Saturday night she was up most of the night coughing so hard she was throwing up. Not. Fun. Of course, any time Emma coughs she's likely to end up leaning over the toilet or her throw up bucket. You know your kid is sick when she carries her throw up bucket around like it's her best friend or favorite toy. And as all you parents know, the worst part about your child getting sick is how limited you are with what you can do the help them feel better. We've been trying to have Emma eat foods that might help and drink lots of fluid, but that'll only do so much.
Finally yesterday Eric took her to the doctor. Just as we suspected, it is viral, so there's not much we can do. The one silver lining is that she's now old enough to take a little codeine before she goes to bed. This enables her to sleep through the night without much coughing, and definitely without coughing so hard she throws up. While on the one hand I love the relief she gets when she can take some kind of medicine, I really don't like giving her drugs. I would rather skip that part. I will, of course, do what is needed to help her get better though. Her weak stomach has always been a problem for Emma. So this time, the medicine wins. It is the greatest thing to see your child finally get a good night sleep for the first time in 5 days. Now maybe her body will be able to fight off this illness.
2 comments:
So sorry she's sick! My kids have had the same lingering cough like that for weeks now. All three of them. Mac was coughing so hard all night that he couldn't get to sleep too. I had read about a trick to help persistent coughing at night and I've tried it on my kids and it works every time so I thought I'd pass it along and you can try it and see if it helps! Get some Mentholatum jelly stuff... you know the yucky Vick's stuff that you rub on chests? Anyway, get that and rub it liberally on the bottom of her feet, then put socks on her so she doesn't get it in her bed and watch miracles happen to her nighttime coughing fits! (at least it worked miracles for my kids every time I've done it!)
Hopefully, if you try it, it will work for you and Emma. They don't like the way it feels on their feet, but my kids found it worth the temporary discomfort to be able to sleep!
And I don't know why it works. I just read it somewhere and was desperate to try SOMETHING one time and to my immense surprise and relief, it worked!
Good luck with the cute little pumpkin. Having sick kids is almost as bad as having a sick husband! ;-)
That sounds so wierd, but I'll have to give it a try. Thanks!!
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