Helpless.

I'm sure I've blogged about this before, for I've thought/felt it many, many times.  It's that helpless feeling a parent feels when they've done all they can and their sick/suffering child is not getting any better.
No, before anyone worries too much, I'm not talking about a serious illness, I'm just speaking of the coughing that Erika is so prone to and plagued with so often.
I suppose that many children have something that they are susceptible to; Erika's is coughing.  She got her 1st cold then cough when she was 2 weeks old.  It was the most terrifying sight to have a 6lb baby cough when she lacks any neck control!  From that point on, any bit of cold turned into a cough, and that cough into ear infections (20+ of them over 2.5 years) and twice into pneumonia.  Sleepless nights were common, solutions actively seeked.
We've tried humidifiers (cold and warm air), elevating the bed, elevating with pillows, vapo-rub on chest and feet, homeopathic cough syrup, warm honey, Advil, vapo-rub plug-in vapors, sips of water available in bed, any combo of the before listed remedies, and probably others I can't remember.  Some help sometimes, some help all the time, some never, and that changes. *sigh*
In short, I suppose, we do all we can, yet I'm left with that feeling that I CAN'T FIX IT. I can't help her fall asleep any faster, I can't cough and clear her throat for her.  Tonight, after trying all remedies listed above, I listed to my poor little one cough for 3 hours and a bit before falling asleep.  Heartbreaking.
She handles the cough so well.  She is in good spirits, doesn't whine, and it rarely gets out of hand and moves that scary step to a gag.  She's had lots of practice coughing, and she's good at it.

I'm hoping that we're moving forward.  The cold for Erika has been less frequent as of the last 6ish months, and coughing even rarer.  We haven't had an ear infection for a bit longer than that.  Hopefully, even though we'll still get the silly cough inevitably when we get a cold, it'll be much less often this year.  It should, Erika's had more than enough of her fair share.