I've Only Quacked Up a Little!

As Liz so eloquently put it in one of her recent posts, when a wee one, over toddler age, puts themself down for a nap midday, a fever is brewing. Lu spent last Friday with a slight fever that had broken by Saturday. Normally, I am one of those mom's that makes the kid rest under penalty of more rest for a couple days after said sickness is gone. In what I can only descirbe as a moment of pure weakness (normally I am supermom, afterall) I gave into the repeated whines of my wee one to play outside with the neighbor, for just a little while. Problem was, it was overcast and REALLY cold (for California) and despite the fact that I made that child bundle up to a ridiculous extent, I had my doubts.

Sunday evening comes and RED HOT little mama. Poor baby, it came back with a vengence. We always let her little body fight off the fever during the day but because she really spikes at night, I usually give her Motrin. This normally works well for a quick recover and although a couple of times she's had a nasty cough, courtesy of mommy's genes, the fever is gone by day two and in its place, snot...snOT and more SNOT. Only this time, the fever was being stubborn and then, it happened. My child started barking like a duck. Her little voice sounded like a really squeeky and slightly demented princess. Croup! This one too, is courtesy of mommy's genes. I was often a barking duck myself as a babe.

I know that she's ok when this sound comes out of her but the gasping in freaks me the heck out! So I moved her into bed with me and every time she "barked" I propped her up more, often under my arm, until she was ok. Problem is, that meant no sleep for me. I watched her on and off and kept feeling her head because, as I stated, the fever was relentless. And every time I began to dose off....bark...bark....quack! I sat next to my child, with my eyes half open, not looking my prettiest, watching five long nights worth of Noggin. The problem is, Noggin repeats the same episodes at night, that it plays during the day. So, I watched two episodes of Oswald and Little Bill, Max and Ruby and Franklin and Little Bear (my favorites) and then, I watched them all over again. I even picked up a yummy meat sauce recipe from the show Cooking with Luis. Thanks Luis, good kid. I made it for dinner last night.

By Wednesday, I realized in my hazy and exhausted stupor, I hadn't even REALLY stopped to pray for my daughter. Not having the energy to say a half way decent prayer, we called The 700 Club. Within an hour, her fever broke, which was awesome because the best remedy for a croup cough is steam from a hot shower and I couldn't give her one with a fever. Despite the fact that the cough reached a 'bad place' last night, the shower steam did help and I have hopes that tonight might bring me Noggin free sleep. Because my noggin, shutting down for an entire night, is all I really want. Although I will, with no shame, admit that I will miss Franklin and Little Bear, just a tiny bit.

As for my little barking duck, she was able to enjoy a (waddle) trip to the nursery today for some (warm) fresh air. I am so glad that the sun rises every morning and that God knows the prayer in our hearts when our lips are too tired to form the words.