Happy Steaming New Year

I have a terrible cold. It started out by setting up base camp in my lungs, then making a summit bid to my right middle ear before a disastrous avalance of mucus blocked off the escape route in my Eustachian tube. Having toodled my hacking and spluttering self down to the local pharmacy on Boxing Day to see what over the counter relief might be available to a breastfeeding mother, I was somewhat nonplussed to discover the answer is: none. No cough syrup, no decongestant. Nada.

You could try steam, the pharmicist advised merrily. Lots of steam! Happy holidays!

Great. Steam. So I gamely spent a day or so with my head over a pot of water on the hob, but with the ear pain getting steadily worse. Finally I made an appointment to see my GP, with my mother's dire mutterings of words like "bronchitis" and "pnuemonia" literally ringing in my ears. The doctor's view was: lungs not so bad, ear not so good. And while the relative severity could "go either way", he went ahead and prescribed antibiotics.

"You can hold off on taking these," he suggested, "to see if it gets worse. And try steam!"

Great. Steam. The pot of water technique was wearing a bit thin by this point, so I dispatched E. to buy a facial sauna, figuring I might be gacking up lurgy but I might as well have good skin while we're at it. Meanwhile, I decided that the whole "wait to see if it gets a lot worse" approach was sort of dumb, and started taking the antibiotics at once. Which is good because the alternate escape route in my left middle ear then suffered a similar landslide, making my whole head feel like an overstuffed sausage. What's worse is the nasty phlegmy cough- aside from the fact I can tell my hacking drives E. nuts, it is veritable torture trying to nurse down the baby for the night- and just as she has fallen asleep, having the sensation of having my lungs tickle tickle tickled with a feather duster and being unable to suppress the explosion. 

I need to go to bed for about a week and do nothing but lie in my jimjams, eating mangos and reading trashy magazines. But obviously, that is not going to happen. I'd settle at this point for a couple of nights of four hours of unbroken sleep but that's not looking like it's on the cards either. Botany's nap routine has mercifully settled back down (at least insofar as she has a nap albeit still only 45 minutes at a time). I guess it might have something to do with the fact that we don't really leave the house much at the moment. However, her night time sleep is still a little bit all over the place- usually waking up at 3 am, feed for half an hour and then awake again at 4.30 or 5am. Any nights of halfway decent sleep don't begin to make up for the exhaustion of the rest- and the result is I feel like I can't shake this cold monkey off my back.

Anyway. A year ago today I was puking my innards up on a ferry en route to France, so I suppose ringing in the new year with some sort of physical discomfort might just be an ongoing tradition. At least I am on solid ground this time, with a surfeit of holiday telly to numb the brain if not the pain.   

Happy 2008 everyone!

Comments

[Veronica]

Oh dear, hope the anitbiotics kick in and soon.

Sleep, ahhhhh sleep. Sleep would be lovely stuff, if we ever got it. Whoever coined the phrase sleeping like a baby, obviously hadn't had anything to do with babies.

Oh and mothers of sleepy babies should save their smugness because I have a roll of gaffa tape here.

Sorry, no sleep lately.

[ovagirl]

Happy New Year to you too mare, although sorry to hear about the cold and all the stuff that goes with it. That plus sleep deprivation does not a happy camper make. Even so, a happy new year to you, e and b. Hope it's a wonderful 2008 xxx

[seepi]

You so deserve a massive party for NYE next year.

In the meantime - you could try a fenegreek tea cure. You put 1tsp of fenegreek seeds in a mug, and pour over boiling water. Drink it all (not the seeds). Drink one cup an hour for one day, then 3 cups a day for 3 days. You just add a few more seeds each time, not a new spoonfull. Start a new cup each day.

It's an acquired taste, but it tastes better when you're sick. and it will clear out those sinuses - your nose will run like a tap, but only clear watery stuff.

and it's good for breastfeeding too!

[Pamplemousse]

Menthol crystals or Vick in the steam??? Lots of paracetamol?? Rubbing the Vick on your chest??? My sympathies as everyone round here either has the vicious cold lurgy or the stomach flu. So far I am unscathed but it cannot last.

Happy New Year to you and yours.

[Becky]

It's awful when you're sick with a small baby, isn't it? Gone are the days when it matters if you're not well, and I always find myself a bit resentful about this. My family is all ill, including the baby, and I'm so out of it that I don't want you to be suprised when I've forgotten that I've left a comment and leave another one.

Feel better soon, darlin'.

[Tonya]

It totally sucks to be sick as a mom. Without the luxury of days off to recover, healing seems to take 4x longer.

Hoping those antibiotics are working by now, and that you are feeling better.

[cass]

We're sick here, too. It sucks, doesn't it?

I'm surprised they haven't recommended, well, anything. Not because I think you should take an OTC, necessarily, just because the medical folks I've talked to have all been fairly blase about meds for nursing moms - mostly b/c they seem only to think about whether it'll be safe for the babe, not whether it'll impact milk supply or anything.

That said, I've also heard that Fenugreek is good for colds and congestion, and it's also recommended to boost milk suppply, so it's fine on the nursing front. I think there are some other suggestions like that over at kellymom.com, if you're interested.

[Nicky]

I hate to say it but as a mum to a six month old, with all the baby groups, it has been one constant disgusting cold since he was born. And yes four hours of sleep would indeed be a luxury.

And I am ashamed to admit that Fenugreek (which I took in a futile attempt to boost my milk supply) did nothing but make my sweat smell of curry.

It is rubbish but like all things, it will pass, hang in there Mare. x