Snot-fest

It all started Wednesday afternoon with the white dot that has appeared in the center-right part of Taylor’s lower gums. The area to where she pushes everything she’s chewing on. Tooth, right? So I rubbed a little numbing gel on it and gave her some Tylenol and lots and lots of snuggles. Thursday morning she wakes up with a stuffy nose which, as the day progresses, turns into a full blown head cold. As if I didn’t think a teething baby was challenging enough. And to throw another wrench at my head, Chris had already left for Louisville to be wined and dined at the Ryder Cup.

So here I am, alone with a congested, cranky newborn and a rehabilitating lab who has accumulated enough nervous energy in the past week to power a small city. And after hearing my daughter suck snot for ten hours, I finally called our pediatrician to see if there was anything I could do to help her. Like try and translate BLOW YOUR NOSE into baby-talk. And when I finally got a hold of the nurse and detailed to her that my five month old daughter was teething and had a runny nose, she responded with, This is your first child, right? Which really means, Ma’am. I’ve got a woman on hold whose son has a bone sticking out of his skin. Use some common sense and call me back if you’re daughter has turned green or sprouted horns.

Seriously though, the nurse gave me some helpful tips and I spent the rest of the day sitting with Taylor in a steamed-up bathroom and installing a cool-mist humidifier. I also tried shooting some baby-saline up her nose, to which her face turned tomato-red and she screamed AT me for an hour. And, even worse, I had to take her temperature for the first time. To which all I can say is, Taylor, Momma is so sorry she had to do that. I PROMISE you I will invest in an ear-thermometer next time we are at the store.

So now we’re on day three of snot-fest, and I can’t tell if she’s feeling any better or if I’m just less neurotic about the whole situation. The nurse said her cold could last up to 10-12 days, which means for the next 10-12 days my routine will be to not put Taylor down all day long, suck boogers out of her nose with a rubber bulb-thingy, put her to bed and then drink a glass of wine the size of a football helmet.