My darling went to sleep healthy without any signs of sickness. No fever. No cough. But that all changed at 2am. He woke up crying, coughing hard and struggling to catch a breath. It sounded like he had something in his throat. Hubby had put him to bed and I asked aggressively (in my defense I was in emergency mode and not about caring about his feelings. Just wanted info) if he had anything in his hand or mouth when he put him to sleep. He yelled back defensively no. Hubby was starting to panick and asked if we should take him to hospital. I did a sweep of baby’s mouth. I looked for any blockage. I checked his chest and diaphragm and it was sucking in hard to get a breath. We are going. Thank God we live close by. We went to emerge. Hubby pulled up and I grabbed baby to run in. I saw a nurse calling another family and said my son is having a hard time breathing. She said it sounds like croup and to go through triage. Thank God no line up. The intake nurse took his temp and blood pressure/pulse. Franklin came in by now. We were taken in right away while the nurse told hubby to hang back and get him registered. The doctor came to see us right away. Said he thought it was croup be cause of the seal like barking. He also looked at his chest and saw him working hard to suck in a breath. He still has not stopped crying this entire time. I ask how can that be since he isn’t sick at all. He went to bed healthy and fine. The way he’s struggling to breath is like he has something stuck in his throat. I can tell I’m starting to lose it a little and the fear is overtaking me.

He orders steroids (cloudy white liquid squirted into his mouth from a syringe), and epinephrine (stuff like from an EpiPen) that was liquid put into this vapour thing I think was the oxygen attached to the wall that we held near his face for him to breath in. He cried. I gave him boob and held the vapour under his nose. He settled down. Brought him to xray and they did his throat and chest with the tiny protector apron like wrap over his genitals. I stood with him while wearing my own protection.

After I was feeling more relieved. He was finally breathing normally. There’s no way it could be something stuck otherwise he would still have problems. Medicine can’t remove an object from his throat, so now I was open to the doctor’s suggestion it may be croup. In all my years as a mom, none of my kids have had this so I was still skeptical, but so relieved that he wasn’t choking on something and that he was breathing better. He was starting to get sleepy. Doctor came in and said xray is clear. Because of meds they must watch baby for 3 hours. We’re in for a couple more hours. Of course I Google’d croup. One link said it can come on sudden and classified as Spasmodic Croup. Everything the doctor said of baby going to bed fine and waking up with croup was listed, including the seal like coughing.

What a messed up Friday. Dealing with hubby being overloaded (read it here). They took his blood pressure at the hospital when I made him go down to do dialysis rather than wait for the tech to come fix the machine. His potassium went up to 7.8! 5 is already high. Thank God his heart didn’t stop. And then baby with his 2am wake up. I’m trying to keep it together and de-stress, but my nerves feel a little frayed.

Saturday hubby slept all day. He did get on again to do more dialysis and the machine worked! He’s going to feel tired all day. We got a call from the ermerg department and have an appointment with hospitals pediatrician clinic as advised by ER doctor. And then there’s all the snow. Sigh. Work is around the corner and I’m already tired mentally. I’m teaching so need to pump myself up. I can go to bed early and all, but I really just need to get to the gym to mentally clear my mind. I hope it’s just croup and not something more serious. He’s breathing fine. Has a bit of a cough, but nothing crazy. No fever. No seal coughs. I do hear a bit of rattling in his chest, so a little phlegmy.

I’m rambling now, so that’s it for now.