Sick Hour

Once again, Rhea and I are both sick, although we both seem to have different symptoms. I have a cold...again, for the 3rd time already this fall. Rhea has just a cough, but not a dry cough, a cough that sounds like it is coming from deep down. Her cough started on Sunday night and hasn't gone away. In fact, it sounds awful throughout the night and after listening to her on the monitor for a few nights, I decided yesterday morning that it was time to visit the doctor and make sure everything is OK.

So, we arrived right as sick hour started at 7:30 am and we were second in line. This meant we didn't have a long wait, but we still had a little time to waste in the waiting room and sure enough Rhea wanted to play with the toys. I couldn't help but think as Rhea would pick something up, how many sick kids have touched that??? So, poor Rhea, I was a crazy woman wiping her hands down constantly. She tolerated it, but I know she thought I was nuts! As my boss says, you can't purell enough!

Anyway, the good news is that Rhea's lungs are clear and the doctor thinks the cough is due to post nasal drip. So, she told us to give Rhea 1/2 a teaspoon of Benadryl before bedtime, which will not only help with the post nasal drip, it will also help her sleep. And it seemed to work wonders last night - we didn't hear a peep or a cough from her until around 5 this morning, about an hour before she got up. The doctor thinks her cough will go away within a few days, so we are keeping our fingers crossed.

Other than the cough, Rhea doesn't show any signs of being sick at all. No fever, plenty of energy and a great appetite. In fact tonight she was an eating machine - eating her dinner of ham and broccoli (she loves broccoli!) and then some Gerber veggie stick snacks and then a few Bug Bite graham cookies! I actually had to stop her because I think she would have eaten non-stop until she went to bed! She has her 15 month check up soon, but since we were at the doctor's yesterday, we got a weight check - she is now 21 pounds, 6 ounces. She is getting so big!