No fun

Once in a while we seem to pick up some no fun bug!  The change of seasons has either brought on allergies or colds around here.  After a couple of nights of using a humidifier, Friday night our little man woke up with the tell tale barky cough -which he had had had for a couple of nights- but the added very strained wheezing that I could hear in the kitchen.

When it sounds as if your child can not get air, to the point that you expect to see blue lips, a momma gets rather concerned.  Amazingly, his lips weren't blue. I pulled him out of his room and calmed him down hoping that would help the situation.  While it helped, the wheezing was still terrible and he was complaining about his chest hurting.

So now, experienced with croup, I have not had a child complain about chest pains too. I began to wonder if it was because it was a bad case of croup or if it was something else.  I did call the triage nurse who very quickly got me off the phone and said, don't mess around, get him to an ER.  Okay.

 He was such a trooper!  I will say that we got very quick care at the pediatric ER.  I suspect though, walking into any ER with a 3yr old struggling to breathe will garner quick care.  Surprisingly, his pulse ox was actually very good, staying at 98-99% most of the time.  Hearing him breathe, all the medical personnel were surprised.  Of course, I can attest to his strong lungs when he is feeling well, he could compete with the best banshees out there!  He has good strong lungs.

He enjoyed watching the monitor. Once they hooked his heart up to it, he had three lines of different colors to watch.  We got to the hospital about 11:45pm and we left about 3 AM.  A breathing treatment did wonders!  He did such a good job not fighting it too.  He got a dose of steroids and we got his prescriptions and headed home. Diagnosis, a severe case of croup.  The doctor was very kind and made sure to give me ideas of how to manage any more wheezing at home, but also said not to hesitate to bring him back. 

A late night date with our little man.  About 3:45 I crawled into bed, stiff and sore from it all, but very thankful that he was okay.  I should note, Eric offered to take him.  However, the current standing rule at our house, as long as there is an option as to him or I taking kids to the doctor -especially urgent or emergency care, it will be me, until he can remember the difference between ibuprofen and acetaminophen, without hesitation knows each child's birth date and approximate weight, and asks important questions (& starting with his own appointments) I can't let him take that role.  His role, is to stay home, rest and take care of the other children. It keeps us in balance and he is very good at his role.