Journey to and Through Motherhood: Lily's 13th Week (5/25/09

This week has been a challenging one. I already posted about Monday which was Memorial Day. That evening she was a bit fussy. Late in the night she developed a really stuffy nose which made it hard for her to sleep. By the next morning, she was sneezy and very goobery. This continued all day Tuesday and Wednesday. She apparently had a cold but was in really good spirits, very happy and smiley. Unfortunately, she had a hard time breathing while lying down so her and I didn't sleep well all week. She napped a lot during the day sitting up in her carseat and swing but, unfortunately, wailed if we tried to place her in either location at night. She would only be calm if she was being carried around or was lying down next to me. We couldn't carry her around all night and lying next to me made it hard for her to breathe, hence, the sleepless nights.

Late Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, the congestion settled into her chest. The coughing woke her up in the night a few times which really upset her. Thursday she seemed less happy and more clingy when we dropped her off at Kirsten's. Around 11 a.m., Kirsten called me on my cell phone at work to tell me that Lily had been screaming like she was in pain for the past hour. Lily had never even cried once for Kirsten so this was highly unusual. In fact, Kirsten's husband, Patrick, calls Lily "the golden child" because she is so well behaved. She wouldn't eat and finally she cried herself to sleep. I felt so horrible and powerless, not being able to help my poor baby. I called and made her a doctor's appointment for later that afternoon to get her checked out. Meanwhile, Kirsten gave Lily some Tylenol when she woke up then took her temperature which was around 100 degrees. I got out of work early, hurried to pick up my poor baby who was sleeping with red-rimmed eyes, and took her to the doctor. I figured it was viral and they couldn't do anything for her but better safe than sorry. Since it was an urgent visit, I didn't see Lily's regular doctor. The doctor I saw checked her out and confirmed it was just a viral infection. He recommended continuing Tylenol, putting her in the bathroom with a hot steamy shower running to break up her congestion, and said that it should hopefully run its course in the next few days. He kept mentioning how cute she was. Of course, while I was complaining about how lethargic and fussy she was being, she was smiling and cooing at him and trying to make me look like a paranoid liar. At the end of the visit he said, "Diagnosis: adorable." Her weight was 13 pounds 13 ounces.

After the appointment, I went back to the hospital to pick up Paul. My parents had been at our house all day. My mom was cleaning and my dad was fixing the phone lines again. They took Rachel to basketball and pulled back into the driveway a few minutes after we arrived home. Lily was happy and smiley for just a few minutes then got really fussy. She was screaming like she was in pain, just as she had been at Kirsten's. Luckily there were four of us to pass her around and try to make her happy. Certain tricks would work for a short period of time. She was so stuffy that I think she had trouble breathing while she was eating so, although she was hungry, she refused to eat. She screamed even louder whenever I attempted to breastfeed her. My mom made us a lovely dinner and we ate in shifts. I gave Lily more Tylenol then about a half hour later, she finally fell asleep on Paul. When she woke, we gave her a bottle figuring it would be faster and easier for her to suck down. She ate most of it. She slept a little better that night than the previous two. She kept trying to sleep every night, the nasal congestion and cough would just wake her up and make her angry and restless.

Lily was back in good spirits for Kirsten on Friday. We stopped giving her Tylenol on Friday evening as it seemed like her fever was gone. When we picked up Lily, Kirsten mentioned that they were meeting some neighbors at Hamburg Pub for dinner and invited us along. We went home, picked up Rachel, fed Lily, then joined them. We've lived in Hamburg for 7 years now but have never eaten at the Hamburg Pub. It was good. We ate outside so the kids could run around. Their neighbors seemed like really nice, fun people to hang out with. I hope we get the opportunity to spend more time with them in the future as we don't really have many local friends. Keegan (Kirsten's daughter) and Rachel got along wonderfully as they had on Monday at the lake house and Keegan ended up asking if Rachel could spend the night. We said, "sure," after checked that it was okay with Kirsten to have Rachel over for the night after watching our other daughter all week. After dinner, we went home, packed up Rachel's bag, and dropped it off to them. By then, I was exhausted after having been in a zombie-like state all week from lack of sleep.

Both Lily and I had a pretty good night but were up around 7 a.m. on Saturday. Paul did some yardwork then we went to Fowlerville to Arrowhead Alpines to pick up some Earthmat stuff to keep the weeds down between the raised beds in the vegetable garden. Kirsten dropped Rachel off to us right when we got home. Rachel and Keegan were super tired. They were apparently up until midnight then got up at 7 in the morning. They went to Keegan's soccer game then Nate's soccer game then had lunch and ice cream at Dairy Queen. On Friday night, Paul had found an old photo album with pictures of Kirsten from college. We showed them to her which she found hilarious. After they left, Lily and I took a nap downstairs while Rachel took a nap upstairs. Paul worked on the vegetable garden then we all watched the Red Wings game.

On Sunday, we ran a bunch of errands. Paul then worked outside again and Rachel played outside with the neighbor boys. Lily had a very poopy day with icky diapers from all the mucus. She played a lot on her playmat, actually reaching for the toys a lot more than she has been. She and I went outside and sat in the grass talking to Paul as he worked. She found it fun to pull up grass but I had to make sure that she didn't put any in her mouth as that is her favorite thing to do with anything she gets her hands on. We ended the weekend with a trip to Dairy Queen.

Lily still has a runny nose and occasional cough but it isn't interfering with her mood or energy level anymore. It's funny, though, because whenever she coughs, she gets a mad look on her face for a moment then returns to being happy. Apparently, she doesn't like coughing!

I don't have a lot of pictures from this week as a snotty fussy baby isn't that photogenic. Here's a few photos.

Lily at the pediatrician's office:

Reiley, Amber and Nolan watching Paul put out birdseed:

My beautiful baby sucking her thumb and sleeping in her swing:

For some reason she was completely happy hanging off my lap upside down. Whenever I tried to bring her back up, she flipped herself back over. Silly girl: