Liv on Codeine

I doubt it is proper etiquette to write about your child's first experience with opiates on a blog, but I am going to do it anyway. So Liv has been averaging about 1.5 upper respiratory infections a month. It's very frustrating because the poor thing just keeps coughing and no medicine seems to bring her relief. She tosses and turns all night, whining, coughing, and keeping her momma awake right beside her rubbing her back and praying for some relief for her. So when we made our monthly visit to her pediatrician this time I was not leaving without something more effective. This is when the doctor comes clean with the fact that countless studies have proven that cough medicines don't work. The only cough medicines found to be effective are those that contain either hydrocodone or codeine. So I am of course nervous about giving my daughter such a heavy duty medication and ask both the doctor, pharmacist, and my ever helpful friend the internet if I should really be giving her this. The consensus: it won't harm her any more than the complete lack of sleep she is suffering with now...just make sure she wears sunscreen if we spend an extended amount of time in the sun and to keep in mind this will make her very drowsy. So with these assurances I start to look forward to a restful night in the Herring home.

About thirty minutes before Liv's regular bedtime I decide to give her the 1/2 teaspoon dose of phenegrin with codeine. About twenty minutes later my little party animal emerged. She insisted on a slumber party with Mom. This meant that I would have to put Momma make-up on her, paint her nails red (not pink because pink is for babies and she is almost a grown-up), and tell spooky stories. I have no idea where she got such a concise idea of what a slumber party is, but it was actually really fun. She was super goofy and super hyped up (nowhere near the super drowsy I had envisioned). After her nails dried and our impromptu photo shoot were over we got into bed and told out stories. I swear the girl would not go to sleep. She told me a very non-scary story about a purple unicorn named Garp, and severel silly stories about a little girl who kept monkeys in her bedroom. I think I might have fallen asleep somewhere in the middle of a story about a brown horse named Chuck.

Fast-forward to about 1 am. I wake up a little disoriented and find that Liv is no longer in my bed...mild panic. I get up to check out her bed...moderate panic. I head to the playroom, living room, dining room, bathrooms, still no Livi...serious panic! I run back to my bed and wake up Hyland, "Where's Liv! Did you put her somewhere?!" (looking back I wonder where I thought he might have put her). That's when I see this little hand poking out from under the bed. Liv is sound asleep on the floor under our bed. How and when she got there I have no clue, but I was just so glad to be able to pick her up and hold her in my arms. So I carried her to bed, and once again all was right in my little world. Did I mention this cough syrup actually works on the cough?