1 Mother 2 Another

There were two themes to last week:
Maddie’s birthday, and all that related to it; and Cora being
sick. Again.


Cora seemed to have a one-day bug, but she relapsed on Thursday
evening with a vengeance, and Friday afternoon we took her to the
doctor. Diagnosis? Strep throat.


Did you even need to ask?

Yep, that’s four times in one year,
so far. And it’s only June. We’re going to check and
see if either girl is a carrier, but you have to be healthy to be
tested so . . . it might be a while.


Cora’s illness this time around was sporadic vomiting, but
mostly a fever that lingered between 101 and 102. My poor girl
turned into a whimpering sweat puddle, listless and clingier than
usual. And that’s saying a lot.


I had to snuggle her in my bed – atop numerous waterproof
sheets – to get her to doze during the day; she’d
simply lie there and toss restlessly, occasionally breaking into
full-on crying just out of sheer misery. She’s watched more
t.v. in the past week than in the entire rest of her life combined,
in an effort to keep her still and distracted. The sight of her
poor little naked-but-for-a-diaper body sprawled on my big bed,
face perpetually set in a frowning whimper, made me feel helpless
and frustrated. She watched her Thomas videos or Sesame Street with
glazed eyes, only half paying attention.


She started feeling better Sunday afternoon, but up until then it
was not fun. When Cora’s sick, only Mommy will do, and I have
to be physically touching her at all times – bathroom breaks
are simply not tolerated. Seriously. So I had to lie next to her or
carry her around with me 24/7, and she’s not as small as she
used to be. I needed to demonstrate how to use a baby sling to a
friend a couple days ago, and put Cora back into mine, and she
simply rested her head against me as if to say, “Yep,
let’s go back to this again! This was great!”


The consequence of this, of course, is that even as she feels
better she’s reluctant to let me go. I keep thinking her
separation anxiety has peaked, but there seems to be no mountaintop
in sight. I had to run to the store today and she screamed the
entire twelve minutes I was gone, refusing to let Brian touch her.
As you can imagine, I’m worn out and heartily sick of Thomas
videos.


The one thing that’s helped the past few days has been drugs.
I’ve found that if I can keep Cora on a steady alternating
dose of Motrin and Tylenol, we stay ahead of the fever and the
aches to some degree. By midday she perks up and tolerates sitting
up and doing stickers, but once she goes to bed and I’m not
dosing her with something every two hours she becomes miserable
again and wakes up frequently, wailing and needing snuggling.


I’m cautiously optimistic that the antibiotics have finally
kicked in and she’s feeling better.


Cautiously.