Croup

In 19.5 months, my 36.5-weeker had never been to the doctor for a sick visit.

In seven years of parenting preemies, I had never experienced croup.

Until the last 14 hours.

Last night, I put the kids down around 7:30 as usual, and Gemma and I went and read books until it was time for her bedtime. During the past two days, she's gotten a little clingy when I go to put her down for a nap. Usually she is struggling to get in bed and go to to sleep, but she has literally been clinging to me when I go to lay her down.

Last night was that way. She wanted to rock and wanted me to sing songs over and over. I finally put her to bed around 8:00.

Jason got home around 8:30 and we started watching a movie. Around 10:30, we headed upstairs and I went in to kiss the kids one more time as I do every night. While in their room, I heard an unusual sound coming from Gemma's room. At first, I thought it was Jason in there playing with her, but when I saw her door closed, I got worried.

I ran in and immediately heard what I thought was wheezing from her. I picked her up and she was not limp, but not really moving much, and her breathing sounded labored. I took her out of the room and into our bedroom where Jason was.

Now, Jason and I are not over-reactive parents. We're ok with a little bit of blood, forehead knots and lots of other stuff. Breathing problems is definitely not something we're ok with. Our initial thought was that she was having an allergic reaction or asthma attack, or that she'd swallowed something.

We wondered what to do for a second, but then decided to call 911.

I have only ever twice called 911 for my kids previously. Once, after Kyran stopped breathing and I had to do CPR on him, and again when he started choking on a piece of Chex cereal. I was not about to wait for her to get worse.

Well, the opposite happened, actually. She became much more responsive and talkative and her airways seemed to clear, but there was still a horrible cough, and some wheezy sounds when she breathed.

The paramedics arrived and checked her out. They said it wasn't wheezing, just congestion and they assured us she would be fine, but said we should follow up with her doctor.

There was one moment of comic relief when Gemma pointed to one of the paramedics and said what sounded just like "dummy". I'm sure she was saying something else, but we all had a good laugh.

So, up we went to bed, this time with her in our bed with us. However, she only wanted to play, so I set up the pack 'n play and she slept in there. She slept very well, but of course, I awoke with every little move or sound. I'm usually a pretty deep sleeper, but I never got in a deep sleep last night (and I can feel it today!).

This morning she seemed much better, but still had the cough, so I made an appointment and brought her in. Croup. When I read the symptoms, it all matched up, but never having experienced it before, I had no clue what to look for or how awful it sounded.

So now we're home and she has begrudgingly taken her prednisone. Dr. B. said that tonight could be rough too, but that in a couple of days she'll be just fine, and it's a good thing we came in early and got her the meds early.

She is taking a good nap now, and I'm praying that she continues to feel better!

She insisted on keeping her hat on at the doctor's office!