Chabot Family Blog: The Latest Tricks and Troubles

Much has happened during our week here at Nana and Nandad's house. Cole has grown/developed in some amazing ways. Unfortunately, he has also had a few new problems to sort out. :( Let's start with the sad stuff so we can end on a happy note!

Last weekend Cole started coughing quite a bit and seemed fairly congested. I spoke to his pediatrician's partner on Saturday. She told me we would have to wait "it" out (assuming it was a cold I think) but that we could do steam showers, use saline drops in his nose and a bulb to suction out the mucus, and keep him propped up. We tried all those things but by Wednesday his illness had not improved so I called the doc for an 'emergency' appointment. My mom drove Cole and I all the way back to Munster for a check-up. Sure enough, Cole did not have a cold. He was diagnosed with bronchiolitis. It is an infection in the bronchioles. He had to have a breathing treatment right then and there. This involved him having a terrible face mask attached to his head, me holding him tight with his arms pinned to his sides, and Nana holding his head still so the mask would stay on. He had to breath in the medicated fumes for what seemed like an hour though I'm certain it was only 5 minutes! The poor guy was traumatized as was his mother! However, he was able to breath a little bit better after. His doctor listened to his breathing after the treatment and determined she could hear some wheezing. We set up a follow up appointment for Friday and looked forward to another breathing treatment and potentially x-rays! We left Bartlett bright and early Friday morning for Cole's 9:45 appointment. Again, my wonderful mom chauffeured us all. Cole did have to have another breathing treatment and the x-rays. His doctor was much happier with the results of the second breathing treatment (which was much less painful this time around). We were able to simply hold the mask up to Cole's face rather than strap it on. I held him a bit differently and Nana held the mask up. He was practically asleep by the end! We won't hear about the x-rays until his follow up this coming Tuesday. On top of all this, Cole has had an enormous amount of saliva these days and a nasty rash on his arms and legs. Come to find out, he's beginning the teething process and has eczema!! Obviously all we can do for the teething and saliva is carry a burp rag around for now. He's not quite ready to chew on things yet, his mouth is just preparing. For the eczema his doctor prescribed a special hydrocortisone cream. After only 4 applications (not four days as we use it twice a day), the rash is almost completely gone. We showed off Cole's arms at his follow up on Friday; his doctor said, "it's like magic!" :) Yay Cole!!! Now we just have to wait for this bronchiolitis clears out.

Phew, that was A LOT of medical garbage!!! Now for the fun stuff. As you have already witnessed, Cole is very entertained by his new music gym. Just this week he has added a new "trick" to his repertoire; I have attached a video below. Cole has also mastered the art of thumb sucking, has noticed he has feet attached to his body, and is able to hold his head up when sitting on a lap! I can't believe how quickly he changes!!!