My Snorty Little Baby

It all started last week.  Carter has always been a snorty baby, but then all of the sudden last Thursday he turned into a little piggy, sniffling and snorting and grunting.  His noises became louder and the sound was slightly absurd for a baby his size.  He seemed super congested and was having a difficult time eating and breathing at the same time.  He would eat, take a break to breathe and then eat some more.  The momma worry commenced.  

I was obsessively talking about his issues, asking for opinions, ideas, and searching the internet.  Then it dawned on me, why am I asking all these people and not my doctor?  So I messaged the doctor through our amazing patient portal online and was greeted with a response less than 20 minutes later.  Our doctor agreed that saline solution was a good idea and didn’t seem concerned.  My momma worry subsided slightly.

Although snorty, he still smiled during tummy time for the first time.  Normally he is not happy!

Last night when I was trying to feed Carter he would pull off and cry, desperately try to eat, and then pull off to cry again.  All the while coughing and raising a fuss.  This is my sweet little baby who never cries or fusses unless he is extremely tired or hungry.  I was concerned.  He just didn’t seem himself and if you’ve seen pictures of him, you know this boy doesn’t miss a meal!  I ended up putting him down for bed without a solid feeding.  The not eating weighed heavily on my mind.

This morning I had a hard time waking him, baby boy was tired!  I have to wake him up most mornings and he looks up at me and smiles.  This morning he fussed at me, so not like him!  My worry began to build.  When I got him up he was switching between coughing and crying.  I decided to message the doctor again describing the cough.  I got a message back 30 minutes later saying it was safe to wait to have him checked out on Friday at our well baby appointment and I felt much better.

Dropping him off at daycare was doubly difficult.  It hurt me to drop him off knowing he was potentially sick.  I sucked in the tears and drove to work.  I called Ty to let him know Carter might need to go to the doctor during the day and I wouldn’t be able to take him.  I cried at the thought of my sick baby at the doctor while I was at work.  I know Ty loves Carter and is just as capable of caring for him as I am, but a momma wants to be with her sick baby!  Ty agreed to take Carter if need be.

Still reasonably happy even though sick.

At lunchtime when I went to visit Carter his teacher said she had checked his temp and it was 99.1.  I was upset to hear that, but knew that wasn’t much of anything.  Then I went to feed him and his problem from the night before had escalated.  He would try to eat, pull off, scream, and then cough.  I decided at that moment that Carter needed to go to the doctor.  I knew he probably just had a cold and there wouldn’t be much they could do for him, but I just couldn’t stand not knowing for sure.

Ty messaged the doctor for me as I drove back to work and got a 3:45 appointment.  My school gets out at 3:30 so I knew if I could get coverage for the last 30 minutes of the day I would be able to take Carter.  That would be great because I would feel better and that’s a difficult time of day for Ty to be gone from work.  I ran around, found coverage, and called daycare to let them know I’d be picking Carter up early.  I told my class I would be leaving early to take Carter to the doctor.  As I was walking around checking that students wrote in their agendas and put their homework in their backpacks one of my students told me, “I hope Carter is feeling better soon.”  All my thoughts of the day, wishing I was able to stay home with my sick baby melted away.  This is what teaching is all about.  My precious students.  I love them and they make my day every single day.

The doctor checked Carter over and it turns out he has a cold.  When I described what was happening when Carter was eating the doctor said, “Babies are nose breathers which makes eating difficult.  When it comes down to breathing or eating, breathing always wins.”  I loved the way he said that!  He also gave me directions for mixing up a nasal decongestant for Carter.  I know we really didn’t need to go to the doctor and there’s not much they can do, but I’m so glad we went.  I feel so much better and hopefully Carter will be able to eat better with the decongestant.  Having a sick baby is HARD! 

Sleepy, sick snuggles with daddy.

Random Thought: Why is it that I wake up if Carter so much as sighs in his sleep (in the room across the hall), but my husband can tromp around in the middle of the night attempting to find a plug-in for his phone charger while sleep walking and I snooze right on through it?