Binky is Stinky...

The past few nights have been rough at the Lueck den. Friday evening was the standard routine, get Nina home from daycare, play with her, bathe her, feed her, put her to bed. She went to bed without much fuss by 6:50 pm and seemed to be sleeping soundly. Sean was out of town for his annual boys weekend of golf and spring training baseball games, and my parents were spending the night with me so that my Dad and I could get up bright and early for the River Run (or walk for us) on Saturday morning. Around 8:45 pm some strange noises were coming from the monitor, Nina was wheezing and coughing, and when she cried out she sounded horse. I picked her up and soothed her as she cried, I was worried because I had never heard those sounds come from her before! Fortunately she had no fever, but her breathing seemed labored. I called the pediatrician and was told by the on call nurse that since her color was good, she had no fever, and she was eating well that she probably caught this bug/virus from daycare and to monitor her and treat the symptoms. That night Nina woke up every two hours! Needless to say I didn't do the River Run :) To add insult to injury I came down with mastitis (breast infection) on Saturday, which was no fun. I am desperately trying to nurse her to at least six months, but it is becoming quite a challenge because she prefers the bottle to me and will only nurse from me at night, so I find myself spending the better part of the day pumping. Her disposition is happy during the day, but she still has a cough that worsens at night. She has gotten up every hour and a half to two hours for the past four nights and we are getting pretty tired. I am unable to fall back asleep when I am trying to let her "cry it out". I am frustrated because I really thought that we were going to turn a corner last night. She napped very well yesterday and went down without any protest and fell asleep immediately, but then promptly woke up two hours later and continued the cycle. When we put the pacifier in her mouth she falls back asleep quickly but wakes up again and we start all over. I regret introducing the pacifier because when it falls out of her mouth at night she isn't able to soothe herself back to sleep. I sure hope that we make some progress soon because Mookie is exhausted, she groans every time she hears Nina cry :) On a positive note, I am fitting into a pair of pants that I haven't been able to wear for a year, which is exciting!