Chuckles Has The Whoop. I Think.

Two weeks ago I was informed by day care that they had a confirmed case of Whooping Cough. Charlie's been coughing a little here and there for awhile, but I thought we'd dodged the Whoop bullet since it had been so long. Well, this morning she woke up with a slight fever coughing non-stop, mucus running down her nose.... looks like all the symptoms. I looked it up online: turns out the incubation period is two weeks. Sigh....

She is so pathetic when she's sick. Clingy. Cuddly. Irritable. Snotty. Vulnerable.

I called the Dr and their parking lot is "a sheet of ice" so I'm not chancing it. One accident per winter is plenty, thank you. They are open tomorrow, we'll see if we can make it as more snow is predicted for tonight. So I'm staying home with her today.

I went through C's vaccination record and she did get TDAP when I brought her back to the U.S. I'm pretty sure that is the vaccine for Whooping Cough, but if any of you know better please let me know. I'm hoping because she got the vaccine that her case will be less than full blown. Reading the symptoms (vomiting from coughing so much, turning blue from lack of oxygen in the blood due to coughing so much, etc) I am REALLY hoping she doesn't have a full blown case.

There's something about a sick child that brings out the tender in me. Business stops. The laundry can wait. Chuckles needs a rocking. Chuckles needs to bury her hot face in my neck. And cough phlegm down my shirt. Priorities after all.

I remember times when I was little and was sick. My mom would comfort me and make me a special Polish treat for sore throats, tuck me in, check on me a lot. One awful part of being a single adult is the lack of mom when sick. It really sucks to be independent when one is feeling lousy. I hope to become a comforting memory for Charlie when she grows up.