First Cold

Last Saturday, Eli woke up with a very stuffy nose. Poor thing! He was snorting like a pig because he could hardly breathe. We used the nasal aspirator, saline nose drops, a humidifier at night, and even did a couple of steam sessions in the bathroom all that weekend, but Monday afternoon when I picked him up from Tammy's he still was very stuffy. Since it had been a full three days, I went ahead and called his doctor to see what she suggested. He hadn't had any fever, and was still sleeping okay at night, but they said that since it was his first cold it would be best for me to bring him in.

Quick funny and embarrassing story....

Monday afternoon when Eli and I got home, his nose was very stuffy, so I thought we'd do a quick steam session in the bathroom. I stripped him down to his diaper, put him in his bouncy seat, gathered up the phone, camera, and computer (the essentials) and into the sauna we went. I checked my email, Facebook, and the blog, and by then the computer screen was completely fogged up, so I opened the door to go put the computer back on the charger. I completely forgot that there is a heat sensor in the hall that alerts our security company if there is a fire. Well, the steam from the bathroom rushed into the hall triggering the sensor. The alarm went off (I didn't know why it was doing that at this point) so I went to disarm it the way I always do. About three minutes later, it went off again, so I tried to disarm it again. I thought that there was a malfunction in the system, so I called Josh at work to see what he wanted me to do. He was tied up at work so couldn't really talk to me. About the same time I got off the phone with him, the security company called on my cell phone. They explained that they had received an alert from the heat sensor in the hall that we had a fire. WHAT?! I quickly explained that there wasn't a fire, that my son had a stuffy nose and we were doing a steam session in the bathroom and the steam must have triggered the alarm. Too bad for me though, because our local fire department and police station had already been dispatched and were on their way. The security company offered to call and cancel, but by that point they were parked in front of my house. How embarrassing!! I rushed out there, with Eli still in just a diaper, and waved to let them know that we were okay. About that same time, I heard an officer answer his phone and signal to the firemen that it was a false alarm. How embarrassing! I guess I gave my neighbors something to talk about that afternoon :)

Back to the doctor...Tuesday morning, St.Patrick's Day, Eli and I went to see Dr. Russ. She checked his eyes, ears, throat, nose, and chest and said that other than a stuffy nose, he looked and sounded fine. I was thankful to know that he didn't have a sore throat or any congestion in his chest. She said to keep doing what we were doing and to call if it got any worse. I felt like such a "first time mom" for taking him in to see the doctor over something so minor, but peace of mind is worth so much! Eli kept his stuffy nose pretty much all week, but he seems to be much better now. In fact, I've only had to use the aspirator twice today. Hopefully, we are on the road to being well once again!

My little shamrock waiting for Dr. Russ

He was just happy to hear the crinkly paper again!
He'd go back to the doctor just for that!