Escape from Cold-itz

There's almost nothing so pitiful as a hungry baby who can't feed because her little nose is stuffed up. Or perhaps the sight of a mother/father asleep with their head resting on the side of the cot also qualifies.

I think that we are now past the worst of Alice's first cold, but it's been a fairly tumultuous week. Without wanting to make a fuss, because - let's face it - children get sick; I am going to make a fuss. I am from a long line of cold-haters. We're not good at them and we retreat to bed to suffer or put ourselves behind closed doors to avoid them. Two nights of being up every 20-40 minutes all night long is worth making a fuss about.

In the end, I have been saved by Euro 2008. The European evening game shows at 4.30am here and so good old Stu has been literally leaping out of bed to help with the early morning shift. Demonstrating a sudden interest in such games as Netherlands v Romania (no idea why they weren't showing France v Italy), he volunteers to "prop her up while she sleeps so that she can breathe". For about 90 minutes, plus halftime. (Then he usually decides that "She needs feeding"). And Alice fares better while he sits on the sofa than in her room, apparently, illuminated by only the orange shirts of the Dutch supporters.

In the Gwyneth Paltrow section of this post, I would like to thank Mr and Mrs D T Yardley for raising a son who is also prepared to get up for one entire night so that I could have a good rest (since I'm getting the dreaded lurgy too). He slept on a mattress by her bed and comforted her when she woke. It was fairly comical, as he had the baby on one side (about 1 metre from his head) and the baby monitor on the other side (about 50cm from his head) so that he would definitely hear her. Either in a contrary or helpful mood, Alice only woke up 3 times that night, so his suffering wasn't too great. Last night she and I were only up frequently between 3 and 4.45am (when I helpfully woke Stu for Russia v Sweden (I knew he would be dying to see that one), so I think that we are now over the worst of it. She's also managed to sleep back in her cot again for most of the last two day sleeps, whereas before, she had to be held, so fingers crossed. We had just got into a nice routine of bed at 7 - 7.30pm, with 3 sleeps and 5 feeds, but I am advised to give her extra feeds so that she gets enough fluids, so we are back to 4 sleeps and 6 feeds until we get back on track.

We've spent the week in voluntary quarantine, avoiding other babies and speaking really only to chemists, who all just tried to sell me nasal aspirators. I remember getting treats when I was young and sickly, so took Alice to get her new car seat fitted. I had to walk around the block to resist buying anything in the baby shop where the fitters is situated (I really am a compulsive baby shopper). It really is the business (the car seat, not the block I walked around) - a beautifully plush seat that exceeds all safety standards and for no extra charge, comes with ipod speakers. So I will spend a happy hour or so choosing music for Alice and many happy hours not listening to Baby Einstein lullabies and instead tuning into radio celebrities and TV Z listers who I know a tiny bit about through a tenuous connection through a friend and to whom I feel some curious allegiance.

Have also thought of something more pitiful. Alice's screams while I use the nasal aspirator on her. Will be pleased to get to "summer" in England. Only 5 weeks to go!