Friday, May 21, 2010

At the End of our Cold Ropes

What can you do for a baby who has a cold? The short answer is a pull-out-your-hair nothing. The long answer goes something like this: You drive to Target. You buy every product geared towards baby colds (there are only two so this isn't too difficult.) You go home and look at what you bought. You have Johnson's vapor baby bath and you have Boogie Wipes ("gentle saline wipes developed by moms tired of chasing runny noses.") Oh, and you also threw in some Kleenex with lotion because regular tissues just don't cut it on delicate baby nostrils now do they? So you look at your vapor bath, boogie wipes, and Kleenex and you feel a little frustrated because your baby is coughing, sneezing, glassy-eyed, and you know his throat probably hurts and no matter what you do he cannot sleep longer than 30 minutes at a time because of all the mucous. You give him a 40-minute bath with the vapor bubbles. You add a vaporizer to his room and even put that liquid menthol stuff in the little chamber but it doesn't seem to make much difference because he still wakes up more times than you care to count. You hold a bottle of Vick's directly in front of his nose while he's sleeping but he's so stuffy you can tell it's not even breaking through. You offer him a continual supply of orange juice, vitamin C-infused apple juice, and baby Tylenol. You give up trying to get him to eat because he obviously can't taste anything, his throat is too sore, and on top of everything he has several new teeth cutting angry red marks through his gums. And when he begs for Elmo at 2am, you give in and turn it on because it's the only thing that comforts him and you can't stand to hear him cry anymore. It's too heartbreaking. So as you begin watching the little red puppet you're so sleep deprived that right before you fall asleep on the couch with a wheezy little boy sweating all over you, you vaguely wonder how so many millions of people have survived so many millions of children. And they didn't even have all the vapory stuff. Or Elmo, for that matter. --KC

1 comment:

  1. Oh if I was there I would come and watch him so you could get some sleep! All of you are in my prayers...I love you! mom

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