Sophi has a cough. I would know this not only from the coughing noises she makes, but she frequently tells me “Daddy, I still have the cawfez”. During the day it’s not all that noticable. About once every 30 minutes she puts her tiny hand over her mouth and lets go with 8-10 coughs. At night on the other hand, she coughs 3-4 times about every 30 seconds.
I can’t sleep when that’s happening. I’m a really light sleeper, my wife is a heavy sleeper. The sound of a tiny foot hitting the floor 2 rooms away through closed doors wakes me up. It’s not just any noise, I sleep through lots of stuff. Being a Daddy, my mind is tuned to listen for kid noises. Other Daddies and Mommies will probably be nodding right now, non-parents will be thinking “it’s noise, what’s the difference”? There’s a difference.
So anyway, We’ve been giving her Robitussen. It’s even Real Robitussin, my mother-in-law works at a clinic and got a stack of samples. She can have a half teaspoon every 4 hours. The drag is, it only lasts 3 hours. So there’s an hour in there where she coughs, and can’t have any medicine. That’s a hard time.
Last night I gave her some at 1 am, and we both went to sleep. At about 4 I woke up hearing her cough. It quit for a bit, and I fell asleep again. Then I heard some sniffles, which was odd, so I got up to see what was going on. Sophi was sitting on the potty crying very quietly. She didn’t have to go, but she couldn’t stay in bed, and potty is the only thing she’s allowed to get up for.
I couldn’t give her more medicine yet, but there was no way I could send her back to bed to suffer alone. So we cuddled on the couch for a while. Sitting up seemed to help a good bit, and she fell asleep in my arms. At 5 I gave her more medicine and she fell back to sleep in my arms in the walk from the kitchen to her bed.
I tucked her in and kissed her head, and as I walked away I heard her whisper “I love you Daddy”.
Daddying is good.
