We are Sick!

A week or so ago, the boys started coming down with minor colds. They each had runny nose, were sneezing and were sleeping a lot. This was not too bad and I have to admit the excess sleeping was nice. Then, things took a turn for the worse.

It hit Andrew first... the cough! One day we thought we were at the end of the cold and Andrew started coughing more and more frequently. Then, the cough started to sound wheezy. He was still in good spirits so we hooked up the humidifier in their room and put the boys to bed. I do not think there was a 30 minute period of time that he did not cough the entire night. He was not fussy or crying, just coughing. I wanted to do something to help him but did not know what to do, I hate feeling helpless.

I spent most of the night staring at the baby monitor and listened to him cough. At about 1:30am, I could not take it anymore. I went into the room and got him up. I thought maybe holding him upright, he may be able to get some sleep. I also wanted him to know I was there and to provide him some comfort. I took him into the family room. I put some Vick's on his chest and proceeded to rock him, hopefully to sleep.

Well, the boys do not really know anything about being rocked to sleep because they have always fallen asleep on their own without rocking. For about 30 minutes, he stayed in my arms but did not relax to fall asleep. He would put his head down and then look at me. After about 30 minutes, he looked at me and I asked "do you want to go back to bed" and he replied in the sweetest voice "peeze, peeze." So, I took him back to bed and he continued to cough the rest of the night. This lasted two full days and nights.

The doctor said there was really nothing they could do. The biggest problem was the lack of sleep. The boys are so use to getting a full nights sleep that this was really hard on all of us. As soon as Andrew's cough started to fade, it hit Wes. The poor little guy did not handle it as well as Andrew. He would cough and wanted others to share in his misery so he would cry as well.

Here are a few pictures on day 2 of Wes' cough. These pictures were taken shortly after his nap time in which he did not get much sleep at all.
He tried to lay down on the floor and get some rest but he could not get comfortable...

Still trying to get some rest...

We were all moving around like a bunch of zombies. Sleep deprivation is not fun...

Luckily, Jared did not catch the cough part of this cold. Once Wes finished his two days of torture, we were back to getting sleep and were all feeling better. It is hard to believe that I survived for so long without sleep when I was pregnant and then after the boys were born. Now, four days without sleep and I was a mess.

Don't worry, Daddy was not impacted by the sleepless nights. He has an uncanny ability to sleep through anything during the night. It's actually a good thing that Daddy was able to sleep. We wouldn't want all of us trying to function on no sleep, would we???

Take care,