Zoë's had a runny nose for the last few days, but nothing more. Then last night, she woke up after having been a sleep an hour sounding like a seal. Croup! When I called the after-hours nurse, she said that any amount of wheezing in a baby her age warranted a trip to the ER. Of course it was the one night this year that Josh was gone shooting a commercial in SLC till 1am. So my parents drove us up to the hospital. It's a pain that my insurance only covers Timp, not Utah Valley, but the good side was that the ER was totally dead (because it's a smaller hospital, I'm guessing). We didn't spend one minute in the waiting room.
However, that didn't make Zoë feel any better, especially when they took her rectal temperature (was that really necessary? she didn't have a temperature at all). After that, there was no consoling her, especially when a pair of masked men came in to give her a breathing treatment and especially when--upon my request--they returned to suction her nose out for an RSV test. She was negative for that, thank goodness.
We hung out on the porch for about an hour last night, all bundled up. She loves going back and forth between the wind chime (forgot to take it down this winter), which I can hold her high enough to just reach and make noise with, and the mail box, which she likes to open and close. Her breathing got a lot better and she fell asleep around 3 a.m. We slept in sweaters, hats, and piles of blankets because we left the window above our bed open to help the swelling in her airway go down. It felt like camping. I haven't had that cold-nose-warm-body feeling in a long time.
Today she was clingy and not at all happy to return to the doctor's for a follow-up, but her breathing as been fine so far. I'm just praying she doesn't turn into another little seal tonight. Apparently, the propensity for the upper airways to swell with this type of a viral infection is genetic, wich makes sense since croup is something I got a fair amount as a kid.
There is really nothing scarier than the possibility that your child is not getting enough air though! Well, okay, maybe having your child pass out in your arms after holding her breath for too long is up there too. I really hope neither one happens again ever.
6 comments:
poor zoe! I hope she feels better soon!
oh, sad sad sad. i'm glad the ER was dead (so frustrating to have to wait, esp. with a sick little one).
hope she gets better quickly.
I swear. ER nurses have no compassion at all! Honestly! We took Tayleigh to the ER after she swallowed some of my FIL's sleeping pills, scariest night ever, by the way, and before we could leave the ER, after all possible treatment was given and Tayleigh had FINALLLY fallen asleep in my arms, the nurses insisted on taking her rectal temp. I was not kind.
I hope she gets better soon. When my girls had croup I took them to the park ona cold morning. They loved it. They could breathe better and it was much more fun than hanging out at home.
I hope that Piglet is doing better today! Some sunshine should help burn the crap out of her lungs.
Oh Rachel, I'm so sorry to hear that...croup is the worst. Sascha had it a few weeks ago. The advice from a respiratory therapist was to get a cool (as in cold mist) fine mist humidifier for nighttime, because that's when croup is the worst. It helped SO much. Oh it's so scary when they can't breathe, I feel for you. I hope that Zoe is well on her way to feeling better!
Oh, how sad! Having a sick baby is the worst thing in the world. I hope that she gets feeling better soon!
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