A trip to the ER

Last night was one of those nights that we all have but dread. Thank goodness we don't have these types of nights often. It was one of those nights that by sun light I had to ask myself just how much sleep did I get??

I went to bed last night at 10:00 which is probably the earliest my head's hit the pillow since our move. At 11:00 Brayden woke me up crying. I sat at the edge of his bed for 15minutes rubbing his back while he fell back to sleep. At 12:30 Maddie came in complaining she was thirsty and couldn't find the light. I got up turned the light on for her and was walking back to my bed to hear her say, "where's the cups mom?" Seriously! How long have we lived here now? After getting her a drink I escorted her back to bed. I don't remember crawling into bed for the 3rd time!! It was around 1:30 when Emily came in waking me up AGAIN asking when she could eat breakfast. I had her climb into my bed and snuggled her back to sleep. It was around 2 when I heard Brayden crying again. Feeling so so so tired I picked him up and brought him into my bed with Emily and I. Wanting him go back to sleep NOW I nursed him back to sleep. I kid you not at 3:30 I heard the worst noise ever. It is the noise I dread hearing every fall and spring that comes from my oldest. The croup sound. Oh how I hate that sound. Thinking Brayden was on the edge of the bed and not wanting to wake him up or disturb him too much crawling out of bed. I carefully scooped up my baby and rolled to my other side to lay him down in what I thought was the middle of the bed. WRONG! It wasn't even close to the middle of the bed. I dropped my baby right on to the floor! What a rude awakening. So much for not waking baby.

Hunter and I with baby on my hip did what we usually do when the croup wakes us both up so rudely. I turned the shower on hot and shut the door to get the bathroom steaming. I pulled out the mentholatum and slathered Hunter's chest. I sat Hunter on the toilet seat so that I could go search for our humidifier. Not being able to find it I woke my mom up asking to borrow hers. By the time I set the humidifer up Hunter was quickly loosing control. Waking up with the croup is so scary. They can't breathe, they can't talk without squeaking, they start coughing which makes it harder to breathe and the sound it makes is just plain scary for both mother and son. I don't know if he's ever had the croup as bad as he did last night. We soon woke up Grandpa for a blessing. When my mom came down to check on us and she heard the way Hunter sounded and the way he was laboring so hard to breathe she thought I should take him to the ER. Her voicing this just confirmed what I had been thinking.

My mom volunteered to drive us to the ER which is about 30minutes away. I asked my dad to keep Brayden and he replied," Do you need to take him in too?" I said, "No he's FINE he'll probably snuggle up next to you on your bed and fall right back to sleep." But I was thinking... Gee dad I didn't hurt him that bad when I dropped him off the bed. No he doesn't need a trip to the ER!

Lucky for us we were the only ones visiting the ER at that time early this morning. Two breathing treatments and 2 1/2 hours later we were back in the car driving home. To Hunter's delight it was light outside. Morning had come. The ER doctor told us that most of the time croup only effects children ages 2-4. I wish Hunter's little body knew that. His 1st bout with the croup was at a year old and he's now 7. Every fall and spring he gets the croup at least once if not 3-4 times. I feel like we are almost pro's at handling the croup and haven't had to seek medical help since he was about 18months old. Last night was bad and I'm so glad I took him in.

Being he's now had the croup in the middle of summer maybe we can skip getting it this fall??