Elizasaurus

About a week and a half ago Eliza started getting a little cough. It has gotten progressively worse. Her voice is raspy when she breathes and she can't get enough of her dinosaur growl. She didn't have a fever or runny nose and she was as happy as could be (except when coughing), so we tried not to worry too much. When it got to the point where she couldn't even eat solids without gagging (even thin rice cereal can't get down her little blocked throat), I called the doctor. They got her in that day.

Eliza didn't cough for the doctor, but the doctor could hear the problem in her lungs. She said it was either asthma or a respiratory virus. She say the would "neb" her (do an albuterol treatment via a nebulizer) and see if it made a difference. If it did, it would mean she may have asthma and we would get a nebulizer to take home. If it didn't work, then she would give us some treatment ideas for the virus.

When the nurse came in to neb Eliza, she told us that kids usually scream and cry when they have the mask put on them, so I would have to hold Eliza tight while the nurse held Eliza's hands down. Eliza knocked the nurse's socks off when she didn't make a sound, held still, and even smiled at Grandma's entertaining. She couldn't believe how good Eliza was. When we took off the cute dino mask, Eliza wanted to play with it. They let her have it since they were just going to throw it away. Here she is modeling it at home:

I was glad when the doctor said that the treatment didn't seem to make a difference. No asthma! The bad part about viruses is that you just have to wait them out. She suggested saline nasal drops and a cool mist humidifier, both of which we bought and used last night. Would you believe she slept through the night for the first time since she was about 3 months old? Well she did!

[For those of you tracking Elizasaurus's growth, she was 23 lbs 2 oz at the doctor yesterday (7 months 3 days old).]