Sickly

I wouldn't describe Olivia as sickly. Sure, she seems to have more than her share of colds and those colds seem to settle in and make themselves at home more often than they do with her sister. But sickly?

No.

Except...today, after three weeks of sinus congestion and a drippy nose and cough, cough, coughing, I took her to the doctor.

And we left with a prescription of what he called a 'strong' antibiotic. He said that he doesn't give this one as often because it's more expensive. But it also works very well, especially for respiratory infections.

And that's what O's got. That cough that was producing phlegm and other nastiness? It's because there's junk in her lungs. Ugh!!

Every single time Olivia catches a cold, I think, "This time, she'll just fight it off and be fine in a few days."

And she's not.


Alyssa? She can have a stuffy nose and a slight cough and be fine three days later.

Not her sister. I don't know if this slightly compromised immune system is part of her syndrome or not. Other 5p- parents can weigh in as to whether or not their kids can kick colds with just their own little antibodies or not. But Olivia can't.

And you'd think that after being this child's mother for over four years, I'd know that.

But every single time, I think that stupid thought about her kicking it herself. And then, a couple of weeks later, I give in and take her to the doctor and we leave with a prescription for medicine and I feel just AWFUL for not having taken her sooner.

Why did I let her suffer as long as I did? What is the matter with me? Am I in denial as to her health issues?

See...I don't think she really has any health issues. Her heart is fine, heck even her bowels seem to be working better than ever.

Except...she does have health issues in that she can't quite kick the common cold like her typical sister and cousin. She can't catch the sniffles and be back at gymnastics three days later with no lasting effects.

She needs help fighting those sniffles. And she needs me to be the one to get her that help. Poor kid. She needs her mother to step up and get on the flipping ball.

Oooh, Livie, I'm sorry I don't take you to the doctor at the first sign of a cold. I promise to try and do better in the future. To get you well before it gets nasty, to not let you suffer needlessly just because I keep thinking you're going to kick it. I'm sorry your sleep is compromised because you can't stop coughing every single night and that you are woken up at the ungodly hour of 5am each morning to another coughing fit. I promise to do better, because you deserve that.