Sick again

Thursday morning Jacob woke up at 5:30 and was all stuffed up. By the afternoon he started coughing. In the evening, his cheeks were pink (although he didn't have a fever) and he was coughing even more. I knew he was coming down with something again!

He woke up around 11:30 last night coughing really hard and having trouble breathing. I think he was just so congested and had been lying down and was having trouble clearing it. He threw up from coughing, and was saying, "owie, owie, owie!!!" Chris sat in the bathroom with him while we ran a hot shower so he could inhale the steam. While he did that, I cleaned up Jacob's bed, got the humidifier, plugged in the heating pad, and got him a drink.

I tried to settle him back down in his room but he really was uncomfortable and would start crying and saying owie again. I thought a little distraction would help, so we moved him to our bed and played the movie Ice Age (his favorite!) for him.

He wanted to lie on me and have my arms around him, and I did my best to make him comfortable. This is one of the times I hate autism the most - when he's sick. At least he's gotten to the point where he can say "owie" and sometimes will direct your hand to where it hurts. And he can sometimes tell you what he wants you to do to make him feel better..."Scratch back", "Woobie", and "Lie down." But I can't explain to him that he needs to take some medicine to feel better. Or ask him more about what hurts. It is really frustrating as a parent and it makes Chris and I feel pretty helpless at times like that.

Eventually he fell asleep on our bed, and wheezed through the night. It sounded awful. Thankfully he sort of woke up in the early morning and drank his sippy cup of juice, which was laced with Albuterol to help him breath.

This morning he is still coughing and doesn't want to talk much. When he does, he sounds hoarse...I am not sure if it is from congestion or if he actually is losing his voice. So we cancelled therapy and school and are hanging out here for the day...