there are many things that i have loved about school for ava, but one of the things that i dread is the near constant rotation of cold viruses. it seems that the minute school starts, she gets sick, and stays sick for months, and it seems that spring brings us the same issue...

(are you seeing a pattern?)

so, i have always just grumbled about the problem of confining a bunch of small children and their germs in one room together, slathered vicks on ava's chest, and hoped for a reasonably cough-free night. usually, that does not happen. often, we are up for HOURS (not concurrent) while she hacks up a lung.

a confounding factor in this is that i tend to get fall and spring colds.

but today, after listening to ava cough for 24 hours (no joke--though it has never been that bad)straight, despite dextromethorphan, vicks vapor rub, the neti pot, propping her up on 3 pillows then wedging her into a corner, and countless tissues , i thought...hmmm....allergies?

should i try benadryl? dare i rechallenge with the purple liquid that sent her into 2 hours of hyperactivity a few years ago?

now, it seems like an idiotic thing not to consider allergies for this long, and i sort of agree, but in my defense, she was diagnosed with allergies when she was almost 2, and then the following year she did not have any reaction to anything, and so i figured, hey, her immune system caught up, and we're good. then, when she did get sick the folowing year, it tended to coincide with 1. my colds, 2. some honest to goodness infections (fever, green goo, etc), and 3. there was that nasty incident with benadryl where i thought i would go insane trying to cope with the fact that she had gone insane. (it was after that incident that my mother told me that i myself had had a similar paradoxical reaction to cold medication as a kid...good to know).

anyway, we came home from the corn maze (nothing like really giving her immune system a run for its money), and after we settled in, i dug out the benadryl. she was so desperate for relief, since nothing had worked until this point, i thought she was going to tear the cap off with her teeth.

an hour later, i realized that i had not heard her cough recently. i did not say anything, then another hour passed. when i finally did say something, of course she coughed, but then she begged to go to bed--the benadryl was not revving her up, rather it seemed to be working, and making her remarkably drowsy. she has been asleep for 2 hours now, and has not coughed once.

obviously a daily dose of benadryl is not an option, but perhaps a visit to the doctor after the long weekend is a good idea.