Croupy Croup

When Ben was out of town (and the country...across an ocean) we had a little sick kid situation.

Sam has had croup before, so I wasn't surprised when he started again the day we left my mom's house. I didn't think too much of it b/c he was acting fine (just that barky cough), but about bathtime it all got a little weird. You mommys know what I mean when I say...you just "know" when something is up with your baby. And I just saw it in his eyes. Turns out he is just REALLY bad at running a fever (or good...I guess you could go either way with it since I always know when he has one). I saw that look in his eyes and saw his breathing acting weird (please excuse my awesome medical terminology)...and I got those kids out of the tub, in their pjs and into the car. It was around 7:00ish I think (it's all still a bit of a blur). It's terrible not having your spouse there just to bounce ideas off of, you know (do we go, do we stay, etc, etc). So I just made a decision and took him to the new Urgent Care place close to us (thank goodness it's so close).

Called my friend, Leanne on the way and she said her husband, Wes was on his way over to meet me there and take Jack back to their house. Wes was there in no time and took Jack with him...Jack fell asleep soon after and I got a msg that he was sound asleep in the pack-n-play and that they'd bring him home in the morning. Such a relief to know that he was well taken care of.

Sam could barely hold his head up (stupid fever) so I had to hold him...plus he was shaking (freaky...I do not get fevers, so I have no idea). Anywho, got him back to the doc...got some tylenol, steroid and breathing treatment. Only problem with breathing treatment was that he needed to be monitored for a few hours afterwards. Sooo...they informed me that we'd be taking "transport"... I guess they call it that as to not freak out the parents by saying ambulance...down to Scottish Rite (Childrens Hospital)for monitoring for a few hours.  Sam was not a huge fan of his car seat being strapped to the stretcher thingy, but he finally got more and more comfortable. 

Sweet Leanne came to sit with me...she also went to my house because in the midst of it all I left my wallet at home. Then she went back again...b/c I left a candle burning. Wouldn't that have been awesome...burn my house down. :) Ha! I can laugh about it now. :)

She drove my car down to the hospital while Sam and I rode in ambulance. Sam was not a fan (at first). By the end of the ride, he was telling the driver to go faster (obvisouly he was feeling better by this time).

His breathing was doing better and doctor didn't here that stridor anymore, so he said we were good to go. We went home and I put him in bed with me. It was weird just Sam and I there, but really sweet.

Thank you SOOOOO much to the Benders for taking care of my little guy...and of me! So THANKFUL for great friends. We are all we have without our families being here and it so great to be able to count on each other in these situations.  

So that was one "exciting" night and about 2 nights later...guess what...Jack started the barking and hoarseness.  He did fine one night and then the next afternoon he started breathing funny too (and croup is know to get worse and worse in the evening).  Having learned from the other night (and refusing to have 2 ambulance rides in one week) we headed on to the Urgent Care place that is open late and got him a steroid.  Interesting that Jack had an even higher fever than Sam...but you never would have known...he was running around the exam room.  Guess he gets that from me.  Sam gets his fever reaction from his daddy.  Once Ben hits about 100 degrees, he is out for the count.  So funny how they are so different.  Jack had that stridor too...so we did the right thing to get the steroid.  Thankfully, the steroid worked perfectly and he did fine the rest of the night.  This mama does not like when her sweet babies are sick! 

Of course I took a few pics to document our night.  I mean...hopefully this was our first and ONLY ambulance ride, so we had to have a picture. 

Poor sick little guy...so pitiful.  Those EMTs were SOOOOO wonderful to us.  Made me and Sam feel so comfortable and calm.  So thankful for those guys being there that night for us. 

You can tell he is feeling much better.  This was at Scottish Rite before we went home.  Leanne stayed there and made up games to play with him while I was talking to doctor/nurses.  Such a great friend...thank you, Leanne!  Sam LOVES her!  Talks about her all the time. 

Got this picture the next morning as Wes dropped their boys off at preschool on his way to drop Jack off at our house.  Soooo cute and so nice to know that my little guy was well taken care of.