Baby Love

Chapter 14

Word Count: 2390

Taylor's POV

"You're a meanie!" Averie wails as she rubs the back of her head before shoving her thumb back into her mouth.

I study her carefully, a sigh escaping my mouth. Why is this so difficult? Why are toddlers so hard? And why does this toddler hate me?

"I'm sorry, can I take a look at your head?" I plead, trying to help.

Averie shakes her head no. "Can Greg look?" Averie shakes her head no again.

"Is there something else I can do to make you feel better?" This time Averie pauses staring me up and down before shaking her head no. The brief hesitation was enough to make me hope.

Her wails die down but the tears don't stop falling. I take the moment to speak and redirect her, hoping to get her to refocus and calm down. "I'm very sorry that Greg broke your chair. We will make sure to get it fixed or get you a new one tomorrow," I apologize, trying to convey some comfort without touching her. In my opinion, most kids thrive on physical touch but not Averie or at least she's not used to that.

When Averie doesn't respond, I check her body language carefully for any signs of communication. Her eyes flicker across the room in a hurry before she starts coughing louder and louder. Then she starts to struggle to breathe and wheezes, that's when I yell for Greg. I don't know what brought on this attack, panic or asthma, but I can't do this alone. 

"I'm here, I'm here, what's going-" Greg begins as he scans the room before getting down on the floor next to me. "Where's her inhaler?" Greg asks quickly as he tries to examine Averie's state.

"I think I saw it in the medicine cabinet in the kitchen," I spring to my feet and run off to raid the cabinet. I rush to the kitchen hastily moving the random medications out of the way and looking for her instant relief inhaler. She has another one for daily doses but that won't help now.

I find it in a box marked in Sharpie with her name. I grab that and the little O2 tracker before rushing back to Averie's room.

"I'm back, here's the inhaler but I don't know how to use it, and here's their O2 monitor. I know Joe uses it sometimes to track her levels," I throw them both at Greg before sliding into the spot on the floor next to him. Averie has her hand over her chest and is hunched over trying to console herself.

"The O2 monitor won't matter if she's having an attack. Do they have a PEF, like a machine that you blow into to see where you can raise the dingy?" Greg asks before trying to explain quickly as he opens the box to build the inhaler. Well, at least that's what I think he's doing, I'm not sure.

"I don't think so, do you know how to work the inhaler?"

"I can figure it out. I wasn't trained for pediatric 'cause you didn't have any frequent children during our last training session," Greg explains as he scans the directions. I can hear my heart pounding so loud that I can barely focus on anything else.

I turn back to Averie who was coughing occasionally as she tried to calm herself. "Averie, it's okay, we've got you," I try to help her but she just stares back blankly at me. She looked terrified to have Greg and I be the only two people here. In all honesty, if I was in her position, I would be too.

"Okay, ready Averie?" Greg holds out her inhaler in front of her face. She nods making grabbing hands at us.

In my confused panic, I thought she was asking for physical comfort so I reached out to hold her but she dismissed me quickly. I feel useless and at this moment I hate that. I hate knowing that she's struggling and I can't help. She places her mouth at the base of her inhaler spacer and takes a puff with ease as Greg counts aloud.