Croup

So the "little bug" Chou-chou caught turned out to be a bigger deal than we thought. Wednesday night, Chou-chou awoke at 9:30pm with a terrible bark. Inexperienced parents that we are, we thought maybe he just had something in his throat that he needed to cough up. It soon became evident that the bark represented something more serious, though, so I called the on-call doctor and pulled out The Baby Book (best resource ever). (sidenote: why do all the freaky things happen at night?!!) The doctor heard his cough and troubled breathing over the phone and said it sounded distinctively like croup. She said we could try putting him in a steamy shower and/or walking around the block in cool night air, but that even if the croup sounded better after doing these things, it would come back the next time he woke up... best to go the ER and give him steroids to reduce the swelling in his air passages. I was pretty freaked out, but Jarod wasn't adequately freaked out in my opinion. He's generally much calmer in distress, which is fine-- generally! Not with our baby, though!! So we took him into the ER at about 11pm and, since he's a baby and gets priority to be seen, we were back home by 1am. Just as the on-call doc had predicted, they gave him steroids that should just be wearing off now, almost two days later. Chou-chou had a miserable day yesterday but an easier night last night, so I think we've made it over the hump. Today he's happier but wanting to nap a lot. After taking him in with his pediatrician for a follow-up this morning, we know to expect that the weekend might still be tough and we need to keep a watchful eye on his breathing. Poor baby Chou-chou:( I don't know which is harder, being a baby and not understanding what's going on and not being able to blow your nose, or being a mommy and being worried sick about your sick baby! Sigh.

Addendum: Interestingly enough, I also had croup/stridor at the same exact age as Chou-chou and worried my parents sick. I also had just gotten my first two teeth, too. Like mama like son, apparently!