While (some of) you were sleeping...

...at 4 AM on Saturday morning, I was (yet again) in manic mom mode, woken up for the hundredth time that night by Dylan's persistent coughing (maybe it's more accurate to say that I never actually slept at all).  John had already made his rounds that night, so it was my turn in the funhouse-- I never know what to expect when I walk through that nursery door.

I don't even have the creative brain power to fluff this up, so I'll just give you the play by play:

groaned, got out of warm, smushy tempur-pedic bed, donned fluffy pink robe and stumbled upstairs to the nursery

tried desperately and ineffectively to soothe little Dylan, while he coughed and coughed and coughed, his whole body tensing from the strain of the coughing fits.  note to the cruel and senseless universe-- all the hugs and rocking in the world can't soothe a baby's cough, so it would be great to come up with a more effective form of relief (infant nyquil?)

was holding Dylan in the rocking chair when a particularly vigorous coughing spell forced him to vomit all over me

groped around in the dark nursery (every parent knows that turning the light on at night means it's the end of any chance baby will go back to sleep) to frantically grab baby wipes and attempt to clean the vomit off of Dylan's arm and face, while trying to hold him in a (completely awkward) position that won't get him even dirtier from my soiled robe

realized the robe must be sacrificed for the greater good, so I juggled Dylan around from arm to arm as I wiggled my way out of the robe

Dylan continued to cough through all of this, and at some point during the chaos, he must have exerted so much force coughing that he also let loose on the bottom end too-- it took me a little while to separate the smell of poop from my vomit covered self (oh yes, this is for real)

I caved and turned on the light in the adjoining bathroom, so I could at least see what I was doing as I changed his diaper-- Dylan is wide awake at this point, and I'm in denial that this is all really happening

Finally managed to get him cleaned up (good enough) of all vomit and poop, turned out the light, and resumed motherly soothing methods, praying to the baby sleep gods that he would go back to sleep

The baby sleep gods granted me a brief reprieve after all of the drama and thankfully Dylan eventually went back to sleep for the last hour before his usual 6 AM start-the-day time

We're taking him back to the doctor tomorrow, and I will not leave that office until the doctor prescribes something/anything that will help relieve this awful coughing.  It's not that I think medication is the answer to all baby health problems, but I have to believe that giving him medicine that will help him get more sleep is better for him than letting him just ride it out for the week or 2 it will inevitably take until whatever illness this is works its way through his system.

I have a feeling we're in for another long night...may yours be more peaceful and sleepful.

Claire