Sienna is Sick

Ethan got a cold when Sienna was just under a week old, just a few days after we all got home.  It was difficult because he wanted to hug and kiss on Sienna, but we were trying to have him kiss the back of her head and not touch her hands.  It made it more difficult with her being ‘new’ in our home and he could not touch her much.  Gary got the cold soon after Ethan, and then on Friday, Sienna had it.  Thankfully she didn’t have a fever like Ethan did, but she was congested, coughing, and had a stuffy nose.  It was so hard to know what to do since she was only 10 days old and doesn’t really breathe through her mouth, and had difficulty breathing through her nose.  Over the weekend she began vomiting (not just spitting up, but vomiting with retching).  Ethan never did that so it concerned us as to if she was getting enough food.  At first I was afraid that I had eaten something that she was allergic to which caused the retching and vomiting.  It was more noticeable that as she nursed she wasn’t able to breath and then would vomit.  We thought that it was probably due to not being able to breathe, so we started using the orrszivo on her (you can see a picture of it below).  The orrszivo is a Hungarian invention that is one of the best baby inventions that we’ve come across.  You put one end into the vacuum cleaner and the other end in their nose, and it sucks the mucus out.  It’s made for children from 0-6 years old.  It works WAY better than those bulbs you put in their nose and squeeze to get the snot.  Ethan likes it so much that he has learned to do it himself.  However, it doesn’t really fit in Sienna’s nose, so it only sucks the little bit that is at the bottom of her nose.  After going for her check-up today the doctor said to put saline drops in her nose which will dilute the mucus and cause it to come down, and then the orrszivo will suck it out.  We are to do that before every nursing. I started getting the cold yesterday.  The doctor said that now my body will produce antibodies against the cold, and they will be passed on to her.  I said that it’s too bad that I didn’t get the cold last week when Gary did, and the doctor said it would have been better if I had gotten it last week.  Gary said, “Well, if I would have known that, then I would have kissed you!”  Once he got sick, he didn’t kiss me so I wouldn’t get sick.

Many people say that a newborn baby who is only breastfed can’t get sick.  Yes, it’s true that they have antibodies passed to them through the breast milk, but if it’s a sickness that I’ve not had for me to have antibodies for, then she won’t have those antibodies.  She only has the antibodies that I have.  Dr. Orsi explained a lot about it to us today, so I learned a lot concerning those things.

Sienna seems to be doing better today, so we hope that she will continue to improve.  Ethan had a MUCH better day yesterday.  He was a total pill last week (probably between not feeling well and having a new sister around). I thought I would include this picture of Ethan from his two year check-up that was today.  He can actually say the word stethoscope pretty well.  We really like Dr. Orsi, our pediatrician.  It is evident that she really enjoys children, and she lets us take as much time as needed to ask questions without making us feel like she needs to get to the next patient (something that I have rarely experienced in the States).  She called me at the hospital a few days after I had Sienna.  She told me that she would be on vacation the following week so her colleague would need to see Sienna for her first check-up, but told me that if I had worries about anything to call her while she was on vacation.  She is even having us call her on Friday (her day OFF) to tell her how Sienna is doing with the vomiting, etc.