Sick Days

This October was so crazy for us with all of the Halloween parties and other Halloween stuff, Corbie's court date, Corbie's temple date, Corbie's blessing, etc. etc. etc. that I was really amazed that we all made it through without anyone getting sick and having to miss out on something. So when Arden and Dax started getting runny noses right after the blessing day I was so worried they were coming down with the swine flu or something and then....WHAM! All of the sudden I was the one who was sick. It was just a head cold but it was a BAD HEAD COLD. Blech. I woke up one morning and I swear my head had swollen to four times its regular size and I think it must have weighed about 60 pounds. I was fuzzily wondering how I was going to get out of bed and face the day when Preston (my knight in shining armor) must have noticed my giant head and volunteered to stay home from work and help with the kids! I was so happy that I think I kind of smiled and rolled my huge head back over and tried to breathe.

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(Sidenote: Shouldn't there be some sort of sick-day program for moms? Maybe the government should supply a pool of highly-qualified and trained nannies that you could call to come over and take over when you are sick...for free of course. Maybe they could add that to the new health care legislation! Lets all call our senators...)

Anyway, soon after I was starting to feel better, Daxton started coughing. As yucky as it was, I would so much rather have me be sick than one of the kids. Nothing is sadder than a sick baby. Dax was tough and didn't act sick or lose his appetite, he just coughed on and off a little at night for a couple of days. Then one day he got a lot worse and was coughing constantly all day so I took him to the doctor who said he was starting to get the croup. Blech again. Poor little guy. Luckily we got him some medication which we had to grind up and hide in Halloween candy to get him to eat. But it was effective and he quickly started feeling better.

Than as soon as Dax started to sleep well at night again, Corbie got a runny nose. She has had it for a few days now, and luckily that is all she has (no coughing or fever or anything else thank goodness). But her runny nose has been WAY harder than either my head cold or Daxton's croup. Here is why: Corbie NEEDS her binky to sleep. NEEDS. And so when she can't breathe through her nose, she has to spit out her binky so she can breathe through her mouth to prevent....well, death. And really nothing short of the threat of iminent death would make her spit out her binky at night. And as soon as her mouth communicates to her brain that there is no longer a binky present, the brain sends a signal back to the mouth telling it to start SCREAMING. So down the hall runs mom or dad who tries to hold her upright for a while until she can breathe again, or (if worst comes to worst) uses the dreaded BABY NOSE SUCKING THING (sorry, I don't know what those are really called).

I think that the baby nose sucking thing is Corbie's LEAST favorite thing in all of the world. I am amazed that the cops haven't shown up at our house one of these nights because everyone within a 2-mile radius must wake up and wonder who is torturing a baby somewhere. It is the loudest I have ever heard her scream, and Corbie is by far the loudest screamer we have had. Anyway, we get her nose cleared out, we calm her down and plug the binky back in and go back to bed and wait for our ears to stop ringing. This repeats about 20 times a night.

Corbie seems perfectly happy (other than a little runny nose) during the day, but Preston and I are EXHAUSTED! We have elevated her head and humidified her room and all of that good stuff, but it doesn't seem to help...anyone have any brilliant ideas? I am sleepwalking. Last night was a little better so I am hoping and praying we are almost done.

Here are some pictures of our cute little screamer:





She is so cute, and is seven months old tomorrow. We love her so much and hope she feels better soon! Wish us luck!