ReCROUPerating

Deja vu. That's what I felt as I sat in a hospital room listening to a monitor beep as it kept track of Adam's oxygen this morning, and remembered the weeks I listened to NICU monitors. The night would have been rough one without the hospital visit given that Noah was so excited that it was his turn to bring the treat to preschool that he kept waking up asking if it was morning yet, and Chloe kept having dreams about wolves trying to eat children that finally landed her on my bedroom floor. Yes, it was one of those up all night nights but what made it worse was what led me to be sitting listening to that familiar beeping - a trip to the hospital for Adam.

Croup. I have heard of children having this seal bark sounding cough and as Joe peeked in on Adam asleep it was the last thing on our mind. Adam had spiked a fever earlier yesterday, but was also feverishly chewing on everything so we attributed the fever to teething and treated it with some tylenol. Around 10:00 PM heard him cry, and it being unusual for him to cry any night I went to check on him and found his breathing very labored and his fever even higher. I then called Joe and asked him to listen to him and we both felt we should take him in to be checked.

Emergency Room. I hate visits to the emergency room. Up to this time in our married/family life, each of us except for Joe has made a trip to this fun part of the hospital. Before Adam's first trip last night, Noah visited it to get stitches after breaking open his chin, Chloe was examined after planting her top teeth into her bottom gums, and I got my ER initiation when I was pregnant with Adam and started having horrible pain. We agreed that Joe would take Adam in while I stayed with the kids. Can you tell how sick this little guy was feeling?

Steroids. Doctors diagnosed that his trouble breathing stemmed from having the croup, and gave him steroids to better open his airway. Most kids over the age of three don't experience much in the way of complications from croup, but under that age, children's airways are so small that they can close off, so the doctors said they would observe him for two hours to make sure the steroids did their job. Unfortunately, they didn't and after the alotted time, Adam was still requiring oxygen and his breathing was not improving.

Admittance. At that point the doctors decided to admit Adam into the hospital. Adam, having wanted nothing more than to fall asleep though this, was suddenly wide awake and entertained Joe as he checked out his prision/crib. Luckily, through the night Adam began to improve.

Sleep. Joe and I switched places first thing in the morning, and as I saw him sleeping his breathing sounded so much better. After some examinations, the doctors determined he could go home and now we all are sitting trying to recuperate from a sleepless night, grateful to have Adam home with us and hopeful that we never have to do this again.