8 pm May 11th we heard in the monitor that there was potentially a seal (yes the animal) barking for food in our bedroom while my son slept. I ran upstairs immediately to hush the little bugger to only find out it was my son making this hideous and frightening noise. Amazingly I stayed calm as I have heard this noise many times from my nephew no-no. I got in touch with my sister and said I think Christopher has croup, here listen. A few barks later I got on the phone and said well is it? She confirmed that it was croup (I sighed a little relief) and then she told me to call the doctor. Since I was so used to no-no having it I saw no urgency or need to call the doctor, its only croup. So I whipped out my Dr. Sears baby book and proceeded to read all about it.
HUH….. go figure it is pretty serious
Called the doctor and she listened to him and when I got back on the phone she explained how the noise I was hearing was not a good sound. He is making the stridor noise in a relaxed mode. Do steam and cold and I will call you back in 30 minutes if that does not work you need to call an ambulance and head over to the hospital. Wait, what, huh what, wait, what? When did things escalate? When did it get so serious?
So into the car we go bundled up in hats and blankets to sit in front of the blasting AC and then into the jungle like climate for a little moisture. From freezing to sweating every 10 minutes. She calls back and takes another listen for 10 minutes and then tells me that he sounds better but I need to keep him propped up and listen for any struggle with his breathing. I tell her that is no problem he sleeps in our bed so I can easily hold him up while we sleep and I can wake up with the slightest bit of noise or struggle. Even though she was just telling me how serious his condition is she still managed to squeeze in a lecture on how I should not be bedsharing. I bit my tongue even though I wanted to say a few things to her and silently told myself thank goodness she is not my doctor!
2 am May 12th woken up by intense barking and the stridor noise. tried to breastfeed but he struggled too much. Into the shower for 10 minutes and then into the car for 10. It was getting worse and now he is starting to cry because he is hungry, tired and is struggling to breathe through the coughing. Josh meets us outside with all of our stuff and tells me we are going to the hospital. It’s not a good sign when you walk into the ER and recognize all the nurses from the last 3 times! So 3 hours later and a shot of steroids we are cleared to go home. We thank God it was not more serious, he did not have to go on oxygen or be admitted into the children’s hospital. I asked them 4 important questions as we were about to leave and I have to say the answers are not very helpful!
Will it happen again? maybe, maybe not,
Why did it happen out of the blue? That is the way it works
Can I prevent it? No
Is it contagious? Yes but when there are no symptoms. he incubates in the body 5-7 days before you see or hear anything.
I started crying when I heard that. I was just with babies that day and also the day before. Also with my nephew who is prone to croup I was feeling horrible. What if we got them sick? How could we do that? The nurse tried to make me feel better telling me that there was no way I could know. I understood that but I was still feeling horrible. That was going to be a hard phone call and email I was going to have to make the next day.
So pretty much there is no warning sign, nothing we can do to prevent it and we have a wait and see approach to see if he needs the roids. This is a fun sickness! Keeps me on my toes!
On our way out of the hospital an ambulance pulled up and they came out of the back with a baby on the stretcher with the mom holding the babies hand. I whispered a little prayer for the little baby and hugged Christopher just a little bit tighter. When we got home all 3 of us snuggled down and slept. it was a dreamless deep sleep that was frequently interrupted by a bark and wheeze but we were home and healthy together. What else could a mom ask for?
us three kings 