sleep, baby, sleep

not wanting to take chances, i take my coughing, feverish baby to the clinic. brett thinks he heard her wheezing last night, and we don't want a repeat of last february's pneumonia/bronchiolitis/rsv/ear infection/dehydration/fever fiasco.

she clutches elmo, sucks on her fingers, and burrows further into my lap. we wait, and wait, and wait for the doctor. finally someone tells us to wait in pediatrics instead because there were some cancellations. we leave the crowded urgent care area, and make our way to a different waiting room. they call stella's name. the nurse wants to weigh her. she screams and holds onto my sleeve. he doesn't get a good reading, so we go to a different scale in the hall. she screams and squirms again, but he's able to get a better reading. a jolly, friendly doctor arrives a few minutes later, and listens to her breathe, and she cries the entire time; he checks her ears. they're fine. he hears gunky stuff in her chest, but further up from her lungs, so her airways are clear. upper respiratory cold. he says she may develop an ear infection toward the end of the cold as her eustachian tubes drain. if she starts wheezing or her stomach is contracting hard with trying to breathe, break out the nebulizer and give her a treatment of albuterol. fluids and rest. since she is under two, she can't have cough medicine, so he suggests heating up a teaspoonful of honey and mixing it in water for her to drink, and that should help coat her throat a little.

while we talk, she looks despondently out the window at the snow flurries. i put her jacket on. we snuggle close together as we walk into the falling flakes and out to the car. i brush the snow off all the windows and windshield. once she's in her carseat, i give her elmo back to cuddle.

once we're home, she eats an egg for lunch while watching a little curious george. we play with blocks for awhile; i sing to her, and then lay her down for a nap.

sleep, baby, sleep.

taken summer '11