So, I had a cup of coffee (brewed in my amazing Keurig!) at 2:30 am, and now I can't sleep. I'm not sure why I'm surprised. I'm really an idiot for drinking it, but there is a back-story! I've been lying in bed for an hour trying to sleep, and thought up a blog post. Since I'm a huge slacker at actually writing the blog posts I think of, I thought I would get up and write...then maybe when my head is empty, I can sleep!!
So, my baby girl was running a fever on Monday afternoon..not too high...102 or so, and we put her to bed with Tylenol. By 3:30 am when I checked on her, she was down to 99, and stayed there the rest of the night. Yesterday (Tuesday) she was fever-free, super happy & hyper, and I just figured that it was 2-year molars or something. {But I was a good girl and obeyed the 24-hour fever rule and kept her home from pre-school.}
Then....
2:30am this morning (Wednesday) - I woke up to this nasty barking cough, and labored breathing!! Not me, her! So I get her out of bed, wake up my husband, and proceed to panic. I decide that we need to go to the ER, because she's never coughed like that or had trouble breathing before. {I know...all you veteran moms have already diagnosed her...we're getting there!}
ANYway - I hand her off to my hubs so I can get dressed, put in my contacts, brush my teeth, and I start to feel dizzy and sweaty and like I'm going to pass out! Yeah - it's my kid having the breathing issues, and I'm the one passing out...go figure. Anyway - some deep breaths, cold washcloth, and a glass of water help, and I'm dressed and ready to go. But I decide that I might panic again on the drive to the hospital, especially if she keeps coughing, so I make Aaron get up and go with. {He's such an amazing husband and daddy!!}
He even lets P put buckets on his head. But I digress.
Because of the ridiculous panicking, and wondering if I'm going to get to go back to bed, I decide I need to have some coffee, so I fired up the Keurig as we were getting coats on. It really is way too convenient. I savored the delicious, comforting taste of my hot cream-laced espresso blend {yup, the fully-loaded caffeine stuff}, as we drove off.
We headed to the pediatric ER at Kennestone, which by the way is amazing! Aaron totally wants to go there if he gets sick instead of the grown-up ER. Turns out she has croup - first time ever, so don't judge me for panicking! - from a viral infection. Some Motrin, oral steroid, and a red popsicle put her on the mend, and we were home 2 hours from when we left.
Baby girl and AK went right to sleep, but because of my bad decision to not drink decaf...here I am. Oh well, sleep will come at some point, and it really did taste amazing!!
PS: It's 5:30 am, and I'm NEVER awake this early. This really is tragic, and I have no intentions of making it my norm. There will be much snuggles and TV time today with the sick baby and sleepy mommy!
PSS: I learned from the super-friendly and energetic Nurse {blanking on her name!} that the best treatment for croup is to go outside in the cold, or open the freezer and breathe in the cold air. The cold helps open the airways. Popsicles (red of course) are also a great treatment in reducing the swelling and helping open up the throat. The labored breathing is just coming from the throat and isn't really wheezing, although it sounds awful. But you do have to be on the lookout for signs of pneumonia...a whole different category of panic that we don't have to deal with tonight, thank the Lord!!
