All is not well in Squigglesland

Poor little Squiggles is down with a terrible cold. We went to see the doc again this morning. I foolishly thought she seemed a lot better. As we were waiting in the clinic for our turn, I noticed she had dried mucus and thought it would be better to spray some sea salt water so that she didn't look quite so grubby when we went in (I didn't want to come across as a useless mum you see). I did get rid of the dirt but it triggered a coughing spasm just as we were called in. I felt a little angry at Squiggles because until this morning she seemed to be on the mend. But she seemed hell bent on showing the doc her worst (it was only momentary because I felt like a right little meanie for my uncharitable thoughts immediately afterwards). She had been playing the whole day yesterday but I had obviously misjudged because the doc was horrified to hear her raspy cough and was seriously considering antibiotics. I begged her to wait a couple more days because she had seemed a lot better the day before. She reluctantly agreed but Squiggles is on a 24 hour watch now. The doc has threatened me with antibiotics and hospitalisation if Sqiuggles doesn't improve.

After that the doc got us to visit a physiotherapist at the local hospital. She basically thumped poor Squiggles all around the chest for 10 mins to ease the congestion and then took a couple of samples from her nose for a culture test. Oh how she howled through the whole thing. I think it really takes a lot of courage to hear those pitiful wails and not snatch your child from such ministrations... I was cringing throughout. She did like the thumping though and dozed off during that. I've been shown how I can do that for her in case she has trouble sleeping through the night. It seems a bit cruel to kind of beat her (it's not really beating but it sounds like that) but she clearly found it soothing.

We're now under house arrest. Squiggles needs to be given the nebuliser (to inhale medicine) every 4 hours even during the night. We have steaming bowls of water in the room to help her breathe better and a de-humidifier. She's dropped off to sleep on me as I want to keep her upright to help her breathing. As I look around I'm surrounded by a tray full of medicines - decongestants, throat drops, cough syrup - you name it and we have it, anything that is suitable for a 3 month old is in our house.

I didn't realise I would be facing this again so soon after the last time when she was just 3 weeks old. My mom was telling me about a family friend's son who kept getting colds because of the humid weather. She suspects Squiggles might be allergic. I hope not. Anyway, we're now on the watch till we see the doc tomorrow morning.

She's a right little trooper though. She keeps wanting to play and smiles when she feels better, my brave little girl.

Oh and I've caught the bug from her too and I'm self medicating with endless cups of adhrak chai (ginger tea). Sigh.