I Feel Your Pain

Update on 10/23 - JD still has congestion in his little chest, but he isn't coughing quite as much any more. He seems to still be in a pretty good mood - not really acting too sick. Maybe we are on the road to recovery!

Have you ever heard a sound that made you cringe? Or a sound that actually caused you pain? Like nails on a chalkboard or screeching tires with a crash at the end of it? This is what I have been feeling for the past 24 hours with my little boy. He started with a little cough that has now progressed into a terrible sounding hacking cough that comes up from his little chest.

Timing couldn't be better. All cough and cold medicines for children under 6 have been pulled off the market. (But definitely better to be safe than sorry on that account). But as a mom, it makes me feel so helpless that there is almost nothing I can do to relieve his discomfort.

Our house smells a lot like menthol right now. We have a Vicks vaporizer in his room and I have been rubbing Vicks Baby Rub on his little chest. We even have a vapor bath soap that we can give him, which I will try later this afternoon.

If he could run at this age, he would do it every time I come after him with the nasal bulb. He HATES the sight of the thing, even though he feels better after I clean his nose out a bit.

There are small blessings. He doesn't seem to have a fever and when he is awake and not coughing, he is still a pretty happy fellow.

When I hear that pitiful cough, I just want to take it from him and make it my cough instead. I want to take his little pain away. As a parent, I feel a bit closer to God. I think about what He must feel when we are in pain and how He loved us so much that He sacrificed His own Son for us. Talk about the ultimate lesson in parental love! Move over Dr. Spock and Dr. Sears. I get my parental advice from the best!