28Dec07 - Catch Up

After a hectic few days it is time for a catch up of the last few days. On Boxing Day there was a big family gathering for my side of the family. Lucy was still struggling with a cold and a cough. She was happiest being left to watch Christmas TV. Of course there were plenty of takers queuing up to hold her and cuddle her so we had a pretty easy time of it.Lucy was spoilt for attention and was happy to be passed from person to person the whole day.We were even spoilt with feeding. The one piece of advice that I read from "Contact a Family" that sticks is that whenever anyone offers help of any sort, just say yes. So my mother fed Lucy twice while we were able to relax and enjoy some normal time.Lucy was not quite herself and feeding has been especially difficult. She has a horrible cough and she seems to be struggling with swallowing. The cough is tiring her out which means she is getting more tired than normal.I think that she managed to get passed to everyone and get cuddles from everyone throughout the day. Unfortunately she was not at her best and seemed to struggle being upright. At the moment because of her cold she has more fluid than normal to deal with and is not managing to clear it very well. Normally she has a very good cough and swallow. We have started to worry that this reflex is deteriorating and if we are right then her oral feeding could be at risk. Hopefully it is just a cold and will sort itself out, given time.At the end of the day Lucy was ready for bed and enjoyed winding down with my cousins. She probably though all her Christmas's had come at once.My cousin Emma who doesn't get to see Lucy too much offered to put Lucy to bed which was nice for us and for Lucy. We had made Lucy a make-shift bed from an old cot mattress and her sleep system which we had brought from home. It looked really comfortable and I wish I was small enough to fit into it.Lucy did moan for a while but eventually succumbed and ended up having a reasonable nights sleep. We decided the next day that she really need to see a doctor to get her chest checked out and left for home in time to see our local GP. It was a good decision because Lucy is now back on Cefalexin and has been quite ill since we got home. I have spent the whole of today looking after her because she has been running a temperature (40 Deg +) and has hardly eaten. Her temperature has been up and her cough is definitely not getting any better. To top it all, just when I thought she was going to have a sleep this afternoon she was sick all over herself and me. Since then though, her temperature has stabilised and she even managed to keep down her supper. She has also not had any seizures which is really positive. With a bit of luck it will just turn out to be a bad cold and in a week or two she will be back to normal. Here's hoping!!!!!!