Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Real Life ER Drama

Sunday night is a night that I have a feeling I will remember for some time. My little guy having gone to bed as normal woke as normal at 12.30 however he appeared to be gasping for breath. He started to cry and cough with this real seal like cough. His chest was heaving in and out as if he couldn't catch a breath. My heart jumped into my mouth as I had no idea what was happening. My husband who had been in India was thankfully back and I was very grateful as I would not want to have done this on my own. Off we ran to the ER. By the time we had signed in and sat in the waiting room my little guy was happily sitting on my lap as if he was the healthiest guy on the planet. We saw the doctor who said that since he was now fine he saw no point in doing anything and it could just be a one time thing. However if it happened again we should come back or follow up with our pediatrician. So a few hours later from leaving we climbed our stairs to our apartment. Around 3 am we climbed back into bed. At 6 in the morning I was awoken by the same desperate attempts to breath from my son. I held my exhausted boy in my arms as he tried to breath and finally it calmed down and he slept whilst I held him up right in my arms. Of to the pediatrician we went in the afternoon and Croup was diagnosed. Thankfully he has a very mild case of it because he is running no fever and the cough subsides during the day. Already he is better and although the nights are long and tiring for me as I nurse him through the attacks he is improving already, of which I am very thankful. It is at times like these I realise how much this little guy in a year has crept into our lifes and how much my love has grown in volumes to levels I never knew before were possible.

2 comments:

Johanna said...

Oh dear! I hope he is doing better and you are hanging in there!

Anonymous said...

oh croup is so very scary!!! but I have learned this - it is like a big bad dog with a mushy inside. it's all bark and no bite :)

cool moisturized air is the best thing for it! (which is likely why he got better on your way to the ER!) both of my kids have had it a couple of times. during the day often you wouldn't even know... until night when they woke in the middle of the night and start the gasping for air sound.

glad everything is ok! :)