Croup and why I hate it
On Wednesday, Nathaniel had a cough (began around 3pm), and a raspy voice. Daniel had a cold last week, so we just figured it was that, and didn't worry much about it. Don't do too much, keep the house warm and cozy, and everything should be just fine, right? It was getting a little worse at 9 when we laid him down for bed, but that's not unusual. These things get a little worse at night.
At 11:30pm, Nathaniel woke up coughing as though he was having trouble getting breath. His breathing was definitely labored and shallower than usual. I RAN upstairs when I heard his cough, picked him up, and started panicking. I grabbed my phone and started calling the advice nurse, the whole time telling Daniel in my urgent, freaked-out way, "He can't breathe! Oh my God, he can't breathe!"
The advice nurse listened to him breathing and had us run a hot shower with the bathroom fan off. Then she called back after 15 minutes (he was breathing easier within 5 min of waking up, but still labored). She listened to him breathing again, suggested that it might be Stridor, and told us to go to an ER with a pediatric unit.
I guess Stridor is the raspy breathing that you hear with a baby who has developed Croup. We bundled him up nice and warm and rushed to the Legacy Emanuel ER, where we were seen right away. Honestly, I was pretty freaked out at how promptly everyone was responding.
We were told that it was likely Croup, and that Croup is essentially just Laryngitis. The complication is that when an adult gets Laryngitis and their throat swells, it just gets a little bit painful and raspy to breathe. When a baby has the same problem, their airway can get completely blocked by this swelling valve near the vocal chords. So that's why the labored breathing, and sometimes no breathing at all.
Nate was given a few different treatments after being seen by the nurses, a respiratory specialist, and the ER doctor. One was a nebulized treatment for his lungs. Basically, they thought there might be something in his lungs at first, so they put this mist stuff in his face that I guess had medicine for his lungs in it. He also was given steroids to help speed up the course of the virus and somewhat suppress the effects. He was ALSO given another nebulized treatment, this one of epinephrine which I guess helps to reduce airway constriction. It definitely did help! They also took some X-rays of his chest.
Oh, and they gave us a prescription butt paste for his rash. It is the most excellent stuff!
At about 1am, we had gone through all of this treatment, Nathaniel was breathing much easier, and we were stuck in the ER while they monitored Nathan.
At 3:15, the doctor came in and checked Nathan's breathing. I guess he could hear something that concerned him, and he ordered another dose of the epinephrine. So we knew at that point that we would still be there until 6am, minimum.
At about 5:30, we got admitted into the pediatric ward, where the doctor there wanted to do a full physical. She basically reaffirmed everything we'd been told, and we were brought to our room at about 6am.
I think at this point I had told our story 6 different times.
The nurse in the pediatric ward came in and checked Nathaniel's vitals, then brought us a cot. Daniel left to get us a bag of stuff because we were realizing we were going to be there a while.
At about 7am, Dr. Barsotti, Nathaniel's regular pediatrician, came to see him. He explained to me that usually the second night is the worst, so there was a chance that Thursday night was going to be worse than Wednesday night, but that the steroids and the Epi should have minimized that chance. He also expressed that we might be able to go home that evening. Oh, and he asked me to tell him exactly what happened when.
Daniel got back with stuff around 8:30am. We took turns taking care of Nathaniel, who wouldn't sleep unless he was in someone's arms, and who was keeping himself awake because of all the excitement, all day.
Oh, also, we shared our room with another family, and we were closer to the door. This basically meant that we had people going right through our space at least every 10 min, more like every 5.
Nathan had to have a monitor hooked to his toe all day, too. He hated that.
At about 4, we had another dose of the steroids ordered for Nathan. He was doing really well at this point.
At about 5, there was a shift change, and the new doctor came to check him out. She asked me what I thought about his situation, and I told her that I thought what was keeping him from getting well anymore was just the fact that people were in his space all the time. He wasn't in a comfortable environment, and he wasn't sleeping because of it. She seemed to agree with me, and at about 5:30, she came in to tell us she had ordered discharge papers for him.
At about 6pm on Thursday, we packed up, got in the car, and came home.
I fell asleep around 8:30. Nathan and I cuddled and slept until about 9:30am. We were exhausted!
Last night, I didn't sleep as well, for fear that he would stop breathing in the middle of the night.
The whole incident seems to be over, though. He is breathing well and everyone is much more relaxed.
I hate Croup.
At 11:30pm, Nathaniel woke up coughing as though he was having trouble getting breath. His breathing was definitely labored and shallower than usual. I RAN upstairs when I heard his cough, picked him up, and started panicking. I grabbed my phone and started calling the advice nurse, the whole time telling Daniel in my urgent, freaked-out way, "He can't breathe! Oh my God, he can't breathe!"
The advice nurse listened to him breathing and had us run a hot shower with the bathroom fan off. Then she called back after 15 minutes (he was breathing easier within 5 min of waking up, but still labored). She listened to him breathing again, suggested that it might be Stridor, and told us to go to an ER with a pediatric unit.
I guess Stridor is the raspy breathing that you hear with a baby who has developed Croup. We bundled him up nice and warm and rushed to the Legacy Emanuel ER, where we were seen right away. Honestly, I was pretty freaked out at how promptly everyone was responding.
We were told that it was likely Croup, and that Croup is essentially just Laryngitis. The complication is that when an adult gets Laryngitis and their throat swells, it just gets a little bit painful and raspy to breathe. When a baby has the same problem, their airway can get completely blocked by this swelling valve near the vocal chords. So that's why the labored breathing, and sometimes no breathing at all.
Nate was given a few different treatments after being seen by the nurses, a respiratory specialist, and the ER doctor. One was a nebulized treatment for his lungs. Basically, they thought there might be something in his lungs at first, so they put this mist stuff in his face that I guess had medicine for his lungs in it. He also was given steroids to help speed up the course of the virus and somewhat suppress the effects. He was ALSO given another nebulized treatment, this one of epinephrine which I guess helps to reduce airway constriction. It definitely did help! They also took some X-rays of his chest.
Oh, and they gave us a prescription butt paste for his rash. It is the most excellent stuff!
At about 1am, we had gone through all of this treatment, Nathaniel was breathing much easier, and we were stuck in the ER while they monitored Nathan.
At 3:15, the doctor came in and checked Nathan's breathing. I guess he could hear something that concerned him, and he ordered another dose of the epinephrine. So we knew at that point that we would still be there until 6am, minimum.
At about 5:30, we got admitted into the pediatric ward, where the doctor there wanted to do a full physical. She basically reaffirmed everything we'd been told, and we were brought to our room at about 6am.
I think at this point I had told our story 6 different times.
The nurse in the pediatric ward came in and checked Nathaniel's vitals, then brought us a cot. Daniel left to get us a bag of stuff because we were realizing we were going to be there a while.
At about 7am, Dr. Barsotti, Nathaniel's regular pediatrician, came to see him. He explained to me that usually the second night is the worst, so there was a chance that Thursday night was going to be worse than Wednesday night, but that the steroids and the Epi should have minimized that chance. He also expressed that we might be able to go home that evening. Oh, and he asked me to tell him exactly what happened when.
Daniel got back with stuff around 8:30am. We took turns taking care of Nathaniel, who wouldn't sleep unless he was in someone's arms, and who was keeping himself awake because of all the excitement, all day.
Oh, also, we shared our room with another family, and we were closer to the door. This basically meant that we had people going right through our space at least every 10 min, more like every 5.
Nathan had to have a monitor hooked to his toe all day, too. He hated that.
At about 4, we had another dose of the steroids ordered for Nathan. He was doing really well at this point.
At about 5, there was a shift change, and the new doctor came to check him out. She asked me what I thought about his situation, and I told her that I thought what was keeping him from getting well anymore was just the fact that people were in his space all the time. He wasn't in a comfortable environment, and he wasn't sleeping because of it. She seemed to agree with me, and at about 5:30, she came in to tell us she had ordered discharge papers for him.
At about 6pm on Thursday, we packed up, got in the car, and came home.
I fell asleep around 8:30. Nathan and I cuddled and slept until about 9:30am. We were exhausted!
Last night, I didn't sleep as well, for fear that he would stop breathing in the middle of the night.
The whole incident seems to be over, though. He is breathing well and everyone is much more relaxed.
I hate Croup.