First (overreacted) Mommy Meltdown

I've always been a very laid back, go with the flow, don't panic when Avery bumps her head kind of a mom, but over the weekend I had my first bad scare. It wasn't a swallowing of a button, or falling off the bed or an unidentifiable rash all over her body. No, it was a viral respiratory illness...AKA...a common cold. Here's the story:

Avery started getting a runny nose Saturday afternoon. I didn't think much of it but it was causing her to have trouble eating. She couldn't breathe and suck at the same time. So come Sunday, she wasn't eating a whole lot and naps had no meaning to her. My mom suggested taking her to an Immediate Care Clinic just to get her checked out to make sure everything was fine. After dragging Avery to 4 clinics and each one being booked solid, I decided to take her home and keep a close eye on her.

Everything was fine until 11:30 that night. She woke up crying so I picked her up out of her carseat where she had been sleeping (it's the only thing that will prop her up well enough). I walked her into the kitchen with me and by this time she wasn't acting like herself. Her eyes wouldn't focus and she was bobbing around in my arms. At this time I began to panic; "what is wrong with my baby!?" She also developed a congested wheezing cough, something I had never heard before and "whooping cough" automatically entered my mind causing me to panic even more. Jesse was at work so I got on the phone with her pediatrician hysterically crying so much he couldn't understand what I was saying. After I finally composed myself enough to explain to him what was going on, he recommended I take her to the ER. Panic even more! So we go to the ER and as I was registering her at the front desk they asked me what was wrong with her and again, the hysterical crying came. After I got my words out, we waited 2 hours, finally saw the doctor and everything was fine. She just has a viral respiratory illness (common cold) and her "not acting quite right" was because of her being exhausted.

Looking back I feel embarrassed that I overreacted to a common illness and acted like a total psycho infront of the entire ER as well as her pediatrician (which Im hoping he won't remember me come April when we see him again) but I know that if I hadn't taken her to the doctor, I'd still be wonding if something more serious was wrong.

As of now she's doing just fine. She has gotten over the runny nose but still has chest congestion so I've been using Vicks baby rub on her as well as a humidifier. Im hoping it will pass soon. She still isn't eating as much as I'd like for her too but I bought Poly-Vi-Sol to boost her appetite. She doesn't seem to care that much about being sick, I think she's actually happier.