It's amazing how some coughing can really throw a wrench into our life. Last Thursday, Elena started coughing. She seemed fine otherwise, except for the runny nose that she's had off and on the the past 3 weeks. That night, though, she had awful-sounding, uncontrollable, croup-type coughs that kept her up until about 3:30. I even went into the bathroom with the shower on hot in the hopes that the steam would help ease her cough. It didn't seem to. She eventaully got to sleep after Donna drove her around in the car for an hour and a half.
Although she, and we, finally got to sleep late Thursday (early Friday!), that was enough to force me to take Friday off. Not only to catch up on our sleep but also to take them to the doctor, since Amanda had a slight, but dry, cough as well. Their pediatrician found no evidence of infection in the lungs, so we just have to worry about treating the symptoms.
We got some different medicine (and one prescription, which is opaque, pastel-purple, and the consistency of honey) to add to our arsenal of cough suppressants, which we have given to each of them just about every evening since then. It seems to help, but only one night in the past 5 have they both slept through the night. Which means we've slept through the night only once in the past 5 nights.
On several of those nights, we've let them sleep later, since the coughing is worse when they lay down, so we are reluctant to disturb them if they are sleeping well. But the days they sleep in (one day it was almost 8:00 before we got them!), they do not nap. I hope they aren't finished with naps yet.
Today is Amanda's big head appointment. I'm looking forward to hear what the pediatric neurologist has to say with anticipated amusement.