Saturday morning everything was fine, she was her usual happy healthy self playing while I was busy making Nigella´s flourless chocolate brownies (she is another domestic goddess I follow). The brownies are a good option for us given my husband´s gluten allergy (I use my own cacao to make sure the chocolate is gluten free) and they turned out delicious if a bit messy. Like I said I lack some useful skills in several domestic areas and while baking is something I am getting the hang of, I still have some work to do. Case in point, my flourless brownies taste delicious and the chocolate ganache came out scrumptious, but the problem I had was that they stuck to the wax paper lining. I don't know why yet, I greased the pan and I even greased the lining... maybe that was where I went wrong... anyway, I'll look it up later. I had to cut off the bottom parts of the brownies because they had bits of wax paper stuck to them.
Sunday night, my husband tasted them and he approved, his only comment was that they were a bit too sweet. But chocolate brownies are supposed to be sweet, that is what makes them so delicious so I will wait and see what my friends think tomorrow on our newly instated game night. Anyway, back to the original story, at around 7 o'clock Saturday night I started getting Hannah ready for bed as per our usual routine. I got her into her comfy pajamas, I laid her on the bed and we started our nightly breast-feeding ritual. 10 minutes in, Hannah started showing signs of a congested nose's with sniffles and pulling off of the breast to breathe so I got a bit concerned. Sure enough, she had a full-blown nasal congestion in less than an hour and our nightmare began. She started getting restless and I took her temperature because she felt hotter than usual. The thermometer read 99.8°F, just slightly above normal, a low-grade fever according to Dr. Sears.
Thankfully my baby is and has been a very healthy baby so she didn´t break out into a high fever, it was more like hot flashes where her temperature would rise and she´d get uncomfortable. According to Dr. Sears, when it´s a low grade fever, don´t treat the fever, treat your child. I decided to make sure she stayed hydrated because she was sweating and to try to make her as comfortable as possible with plenty of TLC. It worked because every time I would breast-feed her, her temperature would fall, but then her nose would get so stuffy we had to take breaks from breast-feeding and back up her temp would go. Next task, remove as much mucus as I could, so off I went to get the bulb syringe. Important to note that Hannah hates the bulb syringe, but I had to try. Several failed attempts later and both of us completely frustrated, I decided to try one of Mayim´s tips for stuffy noses which is breast milk. I proceeded to pump some breastmilk and using an eyedropper put some breast milk in each nostril and it did help loosen the mucus, but there was still the problem of getting the mucus out.
By this time it was maybe 2 AM on a Saturday and we live in a gated community that is VERY quiet at night, so all you could hear was the sound of Hannah sniffling, struggling to breathe, and crying her little eyes out from being so tired and uncomfortable and me trying to coax her into breast-feeding, trying to calm and soothe her with our little song "Hannah loves Mama" and various other lullabies. It was a moment that really made me appreciate counting on my husband's help and also made me more in awe of single parents. There was a moment there where I just lost all of my patience and had to take a step back, breathe and let my pendulum settle. I scooped Hannah in my arms and started rocking her while gently rubbing her back and kissing her sweaty brow. Remarkable how as soon as I calmed down, so did she, but she was still having trouble breathing. This is when I crossed the line I think only a mother can cross... wait for it... it really may just be TMI, but I have to share. Yes!... I sucked the mucus out of Hannah´s nose with my mouth... So Gross... I Know and not a pretty mental picture... I Know and believe you me it was not any prettier in person, but a mother has to do what a mother has to do to help her child get some much needed sleep. After getting the mucus out of her nose, I did one final nasal rinse with a very diluted saline mixture to prevent more accumulation of mucus, at least for a couple of hours, so she and I could get some sleep.
By this time it was probably 3 or maybe it was 4, I can't remember but we were finally able to sleep. Where was my husband this whole time you ask? It was his mother's birthday this weekend, so he had gone to visit her Saturday morning and she is a 6 hour trip away so it was an overnight visit and he didn't get home until Sunday afternoon. That is why it was just me and Hannah navigating our first sleepless night due to illness. Sunday she was feeling a little better and by the afternoon my husband was back. With his help the nasal rinse was that much easier, I was able to hand Hannah over to him and take breaks, get something to drink, or go to the bathroom and then I would tag him out so he could do the same. Taking care of a sick baby is just easier when you have some help and this is why I thank God that even though I don't have my mother here to help me out, I have a very supportive partner who is truly hands on and always willing to help me, especially when it comes to his baby girl. Today is Tuesday and Hannah still has a stuffed up nose, but gone are the hot flashes and sweats so I'm pretty sure it's the last remnant of our first bout with the common cold.
Thankfully we were no longer in a "mamitis" and marathon stage which lasted about five days btw with NO major milestone, but alas maybe it was a growth spurt. The only damper is that I now have a pain in my throat... I hope that doesn't mean I´m next to fall. Oh the wonders of climate change, here in Guate it's not quite summer, it's not quite spring, and sometimes it's just freaking cold, obviously not an environment that is conducive to staying healthy but it's okay, that just means more orange and lemon juice for me! Surprisingly, Hannah enjoyed the lemon and orange juice my husband and I concocted to get some vitamin C in her, but then again she is her mother's daughter and I put lemon on everything... and I do mean everything!
Last but not least, here's a tip my mother shared with me, Thyme tea... a little bit of thyme in boiling water, let rest and cool and then give in small doses to baby, it really does help ease the symptoms of a cold ;)
breastfeeding
breastmilk
Cold
domestic goddess
Dr. Sears
God
husband
Mamitis
Mayim Bialik
Mommy
Pendulum
sleepless
TLC
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