Remember this post?Well, it happened again. Last night at 2 am, Jacob woke up barking/coughing like a seal and struggling for air. He hasn't been sick, just has had a little cold for the last couple weeks, no biggy. We tried to treat it at home for about an hour (albuterol treatment, cold air outside), but we was still really struggling. If you've never dealt with croup before, it's hard to explain, but it's very frightening for the child and the parent! I decided to not take any chances and took him to the ER. That was at about 3:00. By the time we got there, he definitely was sounding better. The ER staff were a bunch of knuckleheads and didn't do a darn thing for me. They told me he had bronchitits- huh? He's not sick. He's barely had a stuffy nose and hasn't coughed except for tonight. By the time we got home he was much better and talking and acting like normal. We put him to bed at 5:15 and at 6:30 he had another attack and ended up back in our bed. After laying awake this morning thinking about it, I decided I was not happy with the "bronchitis" diagnosis. So I pushed it and I am glad I did. I paged my Dr. and he agreed that the ER Dr. was lame and that he definitely has croup. He gave me a prescription for a steroid to open his airway and told me to put a humidifier in his room. Anyway, he seemed pretty good today, kind of hoarse and coughing occasionally, but overall he acted fine. He enjoyed Tyler's party and is now at a monster truck show with the boys. (g-pa, uncle, dad and brother)
BUT, I am totally freaked out about tonight. It was so awful watching him struggle for air last night and I am scared to death that it is going to happen tonight. I have been doing a lot of reading and found that croup usually gets worse at night and last 2-3 nights. AHH!! I gave him the steroids and have the humidifier on high- but I am so worried that he is going to wake up with the same problem! Have any of you had dealt with croup before? Do you have any tips for me? I am so worried about my little guy, that I know I will have trouble sleeping, but I am SO tired from not sleeping last night. I need to sleep tonight!
ps- now I know that he got much better on the way to/from the ER because the cool night air helps reduce the swelling in the airway.
Some random observations from my adventure:
(I'm usually not out at 3:30 am, so I learned some new things. . .)
*My strange, renter, neighbors were still awake when I left for the ER and still going strong when I got home. When do they sleep?
*There was a line at Winchell's (donut shop) at 5 am. Must be some good donuts!
*Jack in the Box is open all night- never knew that.
*Denny's is the place to be in the middle of the night.
*There are way too many gay male nurses working at out ER. Who knew?
8 comments:
How Scary! Dallin had croup as a baby, but he just coughed constantly with that barky cough and never struggled for breath. Hope he gets better quick. Good luck, it sure seems like moms never get enough sleep, and here we are both starting a whole new round of sleepless nights soon;)
Just so happens that I had Christopher to the doctor today....wheezing, sore throat. So ends up he has strep throat as well as upper respiratory infection. So we got some albuterol to help out with his breathing. He was diagnosed with asthma as a baby and has had croup numerous times....so I know exactly what you are going through. Hopefully tonight will be better.
The things you learn when you are outside in the middle of the night, eh? LOL Those were So funny. Sorry about poor Jacob and even more sorry about mommy not getting any sleep either. I sure hope things get better soon. Take care.
Danielle, hey thanks for leavning a comment on my blog so that I could find yours. Your family is so cute! I had no idea you already had 3 and 1 on the way. Congrats! You really are not that far from us we need to get together sometime. I love to come up to Ontario Mills or Victoria Gardens. Let me know what you schedule is like. My email is lizjergensen@hotmail.com Take care.
Hope he's feeling better...and you're getting some sleep! I loved your "observations"-too funny!
I hope the steroids and humidifier are helping! Keep us updated, for sure.
Ah geeze Danielle! And you were so composed today at the park. I had no idea croup was like that. I hope it never comes back!!
I'm sorry, Danielle. Poor Jacob! Almost every time that Gavin gets a cough, it goes deep into his lungs and it gets pretty bad. When he was a baby he had Bronchiolitis and we had to do breathing treatments. We also had to take him to the ER when he was almost 2 because he was having trouble breathing- scary! Albuterol and humidifiers are our friends! Luckily it hasn't happened for a while, but we have had two other ER visits for stitches since!
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