Thursday, February 19, 2009

A few really hard days.

Karl is sick. Nothing terrible, just a simple stuffed up nose, but a severely stuffed up nose on a 5 week old baby can be major.

What is today? Um. I actually have to look. It's Thursday.

Tuesday afternoon, I noticed a difference in my little man. He was staying awake way longer than normal. Didn't bother me too much, as I had slept the night before, so I wasn't in need of him to nap. Evening came and he stayed awake and fussed. Then nighttime came and no sleep. He'd fall asleep for 5, 10, even 15 minutes and then jolt awake and cry. I couldn't quite tell what was wrong, except he was overly tired and ~something~ was bothering him.

It was in the wee early morning hours of the day when I could hear his breathing pattern. His nose was stuffed up. He couldn't breath. Babies breath through their noses and when this does not work, it majorly fucks up their day. He'd fall asleep and when he got clogged again, he'd get his oxygen cut off and jolt awake as he gasps for a breath. It broke my heart.

He finally fell asleep and stayed asleep past the 15 minute mark at 5:40am. It was the FIRST time I laid my head down to sleep. Ella woke me up at 6:45am. Awesome. 1 hour and 5 minutes of sleep. Time to start the day.

All day yesterday was the same. Karl was ~so~ tired. His eyes were shot. He was fidgety. And he couldn't breath through his nose. I did all the things I should do. Snot sucker. Saline drops. Humidifier. Propped him up. It only works for short periods of time. And although he'd fall asleep each time, within 2 hours, he'd be gasping for breath again. I asked the pediatrician if I could give the poor kid some nose relief with benadryl, but he's a tad too young. Poop.

At 12:30am this morning, being awake for 41 of the past 42 hours, I was able to fall asleep. I slept right next to him (he was in his basket on the bed) so I could get to him and suck out the snot as quickly as possible, change him, feed him and let him pass out again. Wait 2 hours. Repeat.

The last 'episode' was at 530a and he fought sleep a little bit until it encompassed him again a little after 6a. It's been 2 hours now and I'm waiting for that poor little gasp.

I went into so much detail to get to this one little thing though. Around dinner time last night, after hours and hours of sleeplessness and Karl feeling really, really, really crappy. After holding a distinctly different looking baby, a baby who looks miserable, in my arms while he cries and screams and tears roll down my face because I can't help him, he was sitting next to me having a rare quiet moment.

The simple phrase of "peek-a-boo" and a blanket flash over his face produced the most ~beautiful~ thing ever. It spread across his face without warning. Our very first, REAL, honest-to-goodness, smile.

16 comments:

Liz said...

Sorry for the sleeplessness and helplessness, but YAY for the smile!

Kaci said...

And it's moments like that that make the sleeplessness worthwhile. Hope he gets to feeling better soon.

Sambalina said...

I'm sorry about his cold. I had the flu when C was 2.5 weeks old, she got a bad cold at 3.5 weeks. My husband had severe bronchitis.

I didn't sleep for nearly 2 weeks.

I hope you both feel better soon.

Jenera said...

::hugs:: Sam has a cold right now and I spent most of the night up with him last night because of him not being able to breathe. Poor Aidan was the same way from the time he was 4 weeks to 7 weeks because of allergies.

The worse part of all of it I have decided is that things get worse when you are sleepy. If we are fully rested things like this don't bother us as much. At least me anyway.

One thing I've had a hard time with is growing pains. Sam gets 'em bad. He'll cry for an hour straight and nothing will soothe him. Aidan still gets them pretty bad.

And the smile? Wonderful, huh?

Hollie said...

Sorry for the sleepless nights and sick baby. I hope he gets better soon. Love the first smile. We have gone through similar stages with him not sleeping at all, but I can't believe you didn't sleep for 41 hours... I can't do that.

Elana Kahn said...

Heh, he sounds like my husband. j/k My husband has learned to breathe through his mouth when his nose doesn't work. I hope he feels better soon so you can get some sleep!

Kate said...

that little smile makes the whole lack of sleep thing sound worth it! hope your little guy is feeling better soon

Motel Manager said...

The first real smile is so amazing. I can't wait for S. to give us one.

Sorry about his cold. Have you tried faking a neti pot with the saline drops? Basically, you shoot the saline up really forcefully into one nostril, and it'll go up and out the other nostril, like a neti pot works. We did this the other day, and it worked wonders, though I would call S.'s stuffy nose a bit more middling, not severe.

Tara said...

Best feeling ever, that first smile.

Jen said...

Babies with colds suck. Jillian is on her second cold of the month. The only other thing I've tried is Vicks on her chest. I don't really know if it helps her much, but smelling her helps me with my cold.

Anonymous said...

Nancy, I read both of your blogs. I got here from Webmd....I was a lurker of many boards, IF, TTC, and parenting. I love your comments. Anyways, about your post. You rock being able to stay awake 41 hours- but we do what we have too for our lil ones. I hope lil Karl gets better ASAP.

As for the smile= there are now words to express how wonderful those are.

~Brooke~

Sarah said...

Oh no--poor thing!

The first baby cold Andrew had made me so sad too. I hope the little buggah starts feeling better soon. Do you have a humidifier (I don't yet, but it has been recommended to me by a few different people).

He still gets all messed up, like when he's teething. Just the other night the drool kept pooling in his throat and I thought I was going to have to whack his back! He didn't take a breath for 10 seconds. Freaked me out.

Anonymous said...

Aww! Congrats on the smile!!
Now, this may seem odd...but try some breastmilk up his nose. Strange, strange, I know. It was suggested to me when my little one was snotted up at around Karl's age, and it worked! I can't remember exactly how much (might want to research it) but I remember it worked like a charm time and again.

Amanda said...

I'm so sorry the little guy has felt so miserable. I know it just breaks your heart to not be able to "fix" him. :-(

God that first smile is just the most amazing thing...

jenn said...

I'm so glad he gave you that smile to make being up for over 40 hours worth it!

Hope you are both getting some sleep soon!

Wordgirl said...

OH.

Nancy -- you're a kick-ass Mom -- you can totally tell -- I"m impressed and in awe everytime I read your blog. Shit, I wish you lived near me. I am such a rookie -- the plugged nose thing would throw me for a serious loop.

XO

Oh, and the smile...