Sunday, April 3, 2011

the cough

Avery is driving me nuts right now. She is getting over a pretty rough cold, both girls are, but as the noses are finally drying up and attitudes/energy are improving she has developed a cough. She doesn't cough during the day, just at night. And it is a bad enough cough that she can't sleep through it and neither can I.

She is content to stay in bed, not crying or wanting anything, just laying there coughing. Every few minutes. I am a light sleeper and constant worrier. So the second the cough start I lay there listening until she finally falls back to sleep.

Last night was bad. She coughed for so long and so hard that I finally woke Chris up to go check on her (I had already been in several times). He discovered that she had thrown up! Yuck (and what a bad mom that I hadn't heard the difference)! It took her several hours after that to fall back to sleep. So it took me several hours to fall back to sleep. I just laid there, listening to a helpless small child cough. Every few minutes.

Right now I am exhausted but the coughing has already started. I know the night that is ahead of me and I am NOT looking forward to going to bed. I feel bad for her, I swear I do, but I do NOT function well on little sleep. And poor Sam (and a little bit Chris too) has been taking the brunt of my lack of patience.

I just need this night time coughing to STOP!

I think I am going to try and sneak in and put the humidifier in there...aren't those suppose to help with coughs? Any other suggestions?

5 comments:

Gidget Girl Reading said...

Hope her cough gets better! poor girl and mommy!

Unknown said...

I'm not sure what the difference is but I've always been told a vaporizer. One that you put the vicks vaporizer stuff in it. Also, vicks vapor rub always works on me and my boys. Rub on her chest and on back. I've also read some place to put it on the bottom of their feet and cover up with socks. Sounds weird but they say it helps. Try and keep her head elevated by another pillow. My boys seem to always cough more at night and sound sooo horrible in the morning. They both have a cough now and actually Aiden is on anti-biotics for pneumonia since Wednesday. They are tons better. If you find that she has a hard time catching her breaths from coughing, bring her in the bathroom and run hot water, the moisture helps clear up her cough, same as a vaporizer of course. Hope this helps...

Jess said...

Oh Abbie, I feel your pain! Peyton had this last year. It went on for weeks (not to scare you). He'd be fine durning the day and then night coughing all the time. A humidifier helps! The other thing the docs told me was bundling him up and taking him outside. The cold, fresh air is suppose to help. I did try that as a last resort and it did help. The other thing they suggested was to turn the shower on hot, let the bathroom get really steamy and sit in there. I've also done a spoonful of honey (can't remember if honey is a no no for Avery's age or not...). Hopefully you guys can get some sleep tonight.

Unknown said...

We are totally in the same boat with Kate right now. We use the humidifier, the vicks baby rub (yep we put it on the bottoms of the feet as well), an elevated matress, and the vicks plug in (which spreads a scent throughout the room). I've also started using the Little Colds Honey Elixer (which is for 1+) as well at night and that really seemed to help keep it to a minimum. If it got really bad, then the steamy shwoer/bathroom always did the trick, but that is really hard when it is 2 am and your exhausted.

Gina said...

Have you had her tested for food allergies yet? Since you guys have them in your (extended) family, I'd consider it. L's main symptom of allergies was a cough. Cough-variant allergy-induced asthma was the diagnosis.

If you do decide to get her tested, make sure you do the skin test, not the blood test. Email me if you have any questions!