Croup

Jonathan was sick last week with what I self-diagnosed as croup.  He ran a low grade fever for a few days and just wasn't help self.  Eventually his voice got really raspy.  Well today, I was confident that he had croup because Diana started wheezing after her afternoon nap yesterday, was up all night and has a "barky" cough.  Despite calling the doctor at 9 am this morning, right when they open, we didn't get an appointment until 3:45.  At that point Diana had gotten worse and was wheezing even while I was just holding her, not even being active.  The doctor confirmed she had croup and informed me that I needed to take her to Children's hospital.  She said she needed a breathing treatment that they weren't equipped to do at the office.  When I asked her if I could wait an hour until Brad got home to watch Jonathan, she said no, you need to go now.  This of course freaked me out but tried to remain calm and off we went.  We got to the hospital about 4:30 and got immediate treatment.  I later told nurse I was surprised we didn't have to wait longer in the ER.  She said well when your child sounds like this, we don't make you wait.  Diana got an oral steroid and then had to get two breathing treatments within an hour.  It's protocol if more than one breathing treatment is needed that they need to stay the night for observation.  At 8:30 pm we got admitted.  Jonathan was great and of course flirted with the nurses, brought back some memories.  Brad came and brought Jonathan and as Brad put it, "another night at the hospital for the girl team."  We were finally left alone about 10:30 after we saw 3 doctors.  At one point they mentioned putting an IV in her and I said no...get me some milk and I promise she will drink it, which she did.  Poor Diana, every time she would finally get comfortable in my arms someone else would come in to listen to her or ask me questions...she was so tired.  Every time I tried to put her down, she would cry and wake up.  Finally at about 2 am I got her to sleep in the crib and I was finally able to get some sleep too.  The whole experience definitely brought back memories, but the good news is that is only a one night stay!  Diana woke up and was still wheezing a little when she was active or drinking but they said that was normal and as long as I was comfortable, she could go home.  I knew she needed sleep and she wasn't going to get good sleep in the hospital so I quickly agreed.  We were home by 9 am and both asleep by 9:30.