Baby's First Cold and a CRAZY Day!

I guess I couldn't keep her in a germ free bubble forever so unfortunately, Stella has come down with her first cold.  We noticed on Tuesday, August 23rd, that she had woken up with a snotty nose and it continued to get worse throughout the day.  Eventually she scared me by choking on some post nasal drip which made her stop breathing for a few seconds.  At that point, I called the doctor and in true first time mommy fashion, I took my baby to the doctor for a cold.  Yep...you heard that right.  I took my baby to the doctor for a cold.

When we got to the doctor, they checked her out and sure enough, she had a red nose and throat with some drainage but unfortunately, there wasn't much they could do because she is so young.  The doctor said to keep an eye on it and to come back in if it got any worse.  It was pretty obvious that she was still battling the cold through the weekend and going into the beginning of this week.  The poor thing sounds so congested and is learning how to breathe through her mouth.

For some reason, this cold has impacted her ability to go to sleep easily and our good little napper and sleeper has become a bit of a challenge.  She has begun to cry...no not cry, more like scream, before every nap for about 10-30 minutes.  And she has also lost about 1 hour off of her nightly sleep with periodic wake ups in between.  Let's just say that Matt and I are tired parents.

Well, today my little munchkin seems to have taken a turn for the worse.  First of all, she woke up multiple times last night which is very abnormal and then she cried/screamed the entire day.  The only time that she wasn't crying, she was eating or taking a very short 20 minute nap but the rest of her time was spent cry-screaming.  It was really starting to freak me out because it was so uncharacteristic of her.  So, yet again, I called the doctor and they said they wanted to see her at 3:45. 

After work, I put Stella in her car seat and got ready to go around 3:15.  I only live about 10 minutes away from the doctor so I knew I would be early but I am obsessive about being on time or early so I wasn't bothered by it.  I put Stella in the car and began to back out of the driveway when I noticed something was wrong.  I parked the car and looked down...sure enough, I had a FLAT TIRE!!!! So not only was I exhausted from not sleeping much, frazzled from a day full of screaming, I was also now going to be late to my doctor appointment because I had to change a flat on our Pilot, which I had never done before!  I am no stranger to changing flat tires but every car is different and they each have a little learning curve.  Wouldn't you know that my learning curve had to happen on a day like today!!  I called the doctor to let them know and they said if I could get there before 4pm my appointment wouldn't be canceled.  30 minutes should be plenty of time...right?? WRONG!!!

I went to the back and began unpacking the tools.  I realized I had no idea where the spare was so I went and got the owners manual.  Apparently it is under the car so I had to unwind the cord that was holding it up under the car to get it out.  Finally I finished that and got to the actual flat tire.  I followed the instructions and loosened the lug nuts and began to use the jack to lift the car.  After that, I loosened all of the lug nuts completely.  Although I was discouraged and frustrated, I thought that I might actually do this.  Once I got the last lug nut off, I went to take the tire off and guess what, it wouldn't freaking budge!! 

At this point, I begin to break down a little bit and my eyes fill up with tears.  Oh wait...pause...I forgot to mention that this ENTIRE time, my baby was cry-screaming in the back of the car and there is nothing that I could do because (1) I don't have time to do anything (2) my hands are filthy!! Anyway - back to the story...So I start to sort of cry but gather myself together and jack up the car more thinking that I just didn't have it off of the ground far enough.  Apparently that wasn't the problem because after cranking the heck out of that jack, the tire was still stuck or too heavy.  Either way, I couldn't lift it off. 

It was just then that my neighbor across the street pulls into her driveway and hollers out, "Do you need help?" and I respond, "I would actually LOVE help."  As I get up to see her, I notice that she is severely limping and was just returning from the doctor with her daughter.  She went for a back injury that she had gotten from falling while walking her dog.  She went on to tell me that there wasn't much she could do but that she would be more than happy to lend me her car.  I immediately started crying and saying thank you over and over again. 

She handed me her keys, I strapped Stella into the back of her car and we were off.  I left everything out on my driveway, car manual and all and just took off.  Finally, we were on the road.  Stella was still cry-screaming in the car but at least we were on our way and it was now 3:47.  We arrived at the doctor's office, I parked the car, got Stella out of the back and rushed into the office.  I glanced at the clock and it was 3:58.  The office staff was so sweet and told me it wasn't a problem at all and they were glad the baby and I were safe.

Once in the doctor's office, Stella decides that she is totally fine and her cry-screaming stops and she even starts to smile a little.  The doctor said it was like when you take your car to the shop for a noise it makes but then it won't make it in front of the technician.  He basically found that she did have a little red throat and a lot of congestion, slightly inflamed ears but no temperature.  He said it was most likely viral or could all be associated with the beginning of teething, either way he said there wasn't much he could do but to keep in contact if things got worse.  He reassured me that he would be the doctor on call if I needed anything in the night and to call tomorrow if things worsen through the night.  I was glad it wasn't more serious but sort of frustrated that there wasn't an answer.

So Stella and I headed home and she proceeded to cry-scream the whole way home.  I put my angel neighbor's car in the drive way and continued to thank her profusely for her blind trust and generosity.  I am so thankful for her and I am so thankful that this day is almost over.  I'm hoping and praying that tonight will be better than last night and that today was the worst day and we are now on the road to recovery but we shall see...