Emma Vance's First Cold

This is what I came home to from the pharmacy. LOVE my family.

I know that kids need to get sick in order to build up immunity. It makes total sense to me, and I've always rolled my eyes at parents who keep their kids locked up for fear of germs. HOWEVER, let me just say this: It's totally different when it's your kid.

True statement.

Emma Vance has her first cold. :( It started Saturday night. At 2 a.m., she started crying--which was completely weird. She hasn't woken up in the middle of the night for months. Unfortunately her first cold also coincided with her first night not being swaddled, so I assumed that her newfound freedom was to blame. I got up, soothed her, and put her back to sleep. Then at 4 a.m., tears again. Hmmm.  Once again, some soothing and back to sleep. When she awoke two hours later, I knew something was up. I fed her, and having her close allowed me to hear her labored breathing, and I knew. I just knew. Ugh. Her little nose was stuffed; I could hear her gulping at a drippy throat; her eyes were watery and red. Poor girl. Uncharacteristically, I didn't panic...until she panicked.

I get it: She's never had an issue breathing, so of course it caught her off guard when she choked for a second and couldn't breathe. I mean, essentially it's like momentary suffocation, and that's scary, especially when you don't know that it's temporary. Her cries (finally) woke Ryan up, and we took her to the nursery to change her. Uh oh. Diarrhea. (And that's saying a LOT for a nursing baby, since every diaper might as well be diarrhea.) So Ryan cleaned her up, and then I rocked her for a bit. When her stuffed nose started to interfere with her ability to fall back asleep, I handed her to her dad and headed to CVS for saline drops.

It was a quick trip, and when I came back I expected to find a crying baby and worrisome dad. Instead I found Ryan snuggling E.V. to sleep--successfully. (I heart that guy.) I laid back down for a bit, listening to her breath (because co-snuggling is fine, but co-sleeping freaks me out, and Ryan was already snoring by the time my head hit the pillow). When you feel bad, sometimes the best medicine is a daddy hug.

The worst part of her being sick was that Sunday Ryan and I helped host a party, so we needed to be in Atlanta all day. The original plan was to bring Emma Vance with us in the morning, then run home to change and drop her off with Wendi for the actual event. Thankfully Nanny was awake early and free for the day--so her four-hour commitment to babysit that night turned into a 13-hour-long babysitting marathon with only a quick break for lunch. (Could we say "thank you" enough? Probably not.) It was horrible to be away from E.V. when I knew she didn't feel well, and I worried about her all day. Truthfully, I felt like a crap parent. Who leaves their baby when she's sick? Really?!? Ryan reminded me, though, that the second best thing to having her parents there was having her grandparent there, which couldn't be more true.

Thankfully Emma Vance passed out for the night and slept her usual 11 hours. She needed to recuperate from a long day of sniffles. Her little body is fighting off a cold for the first time, and that's hard work!

We had a (routine) doctor's appointment this morning, which coincided nicely with her being sick. No fever, just congestion and general ickiness. The diagnosis? She'll survive. But in the mean time, little lady gets whatever she wants until she feels better, because that makes me feel better. :)