So Thursday the 25th February was the last time i think i had a decent nights sleep, OK OK so that whole week up til Thursday was a tiresome one too i guess, as Aidan was cutting his first molar EEEKK! Then Thursday came and he had cut the tooth = good sleep that evening.
Little did i know that the very next day would be the start of yet another sleepless cycle as Aidan started getting snotty and sneezy, well we didn't think to much of this as this was his usual thing after cutting teeth, so we dosed up with ponstan suppositories to help with the pain and waited it out... Saturday was no different, he didn't seem neither better nor worse so with a dose of panado this time we wait again, once again we wake up to an uptight child however he still was no worse for wear, but then Sunday evening rolled around and he seemed to be developing a cough that sounded kind of like an old dog barking(but still no temp and the cough didn't seem to be happening to much, just every so often... Monday morning(morning before Aidan's first birthday) he starts with a "strider"(severe wheezing)so we drag ourselves out of bed and cart him off to the doctor,feeling slightly stupid all the while as the wheezing has cooled off to barely a grumble and he still has no temp...
Doc examines and find that his chest is tight and that his snot nose has turned from a clear slimy substance to a luminescent green and pouring out of him at a rate of knots... "Your son has mild flu with a very minor chest infection- this is why his snot is green, here are his antibiotics..."
"well thank you doctor, so he'll be OK soon?"
Well to say the least he didn't! in fact that very afternoon his wheezing reached an all time high and he was finding it extremely difficult to breathe (now this was terribly distressing for me especially as i had been the one who had been without sleep during this whole fiasco and staying up with Aidan making sure he was alright) so after a call to the baby clinic and being advised that we should rather bring him into casualty to have him looked at as the wheezing was getting worse be the minute, we then pile back into the car for a drive that seemed to last a lifetime with each frantic breathe taken(to note: we live 5min away from the hospital)we arrive at 4.15pm and wait another 5min for the doctor to come see us, in the mean time Aidan has his blood pressure monitored and the nurse fills out the details for the doctor...
He FINALLY arrives(he really was only five min but that felt like a whole other lifetime for me) and by now I'm ready to just burst into tears(this is hard to see as this is the child who has NEVER been sick before...NEVER! coupled with the tiredness i was just shattered, we sit with the doctor and the first thing' he says is "WOW that is some serious breathing issue there,and all you came in for was his sore lip?"
"UUUUMM, I'm sorry what? uh no we definitely came in for the breathing... his sore lip has nothing to do with why we are here..." apparently the lovely nurse placed on his forms that he seemed to have "the herpes virus on his bottom lip" which was not at all the case, the evening before he was busy chasing the dog around the house when he lost his balance and bit his lip in the process...WONDERFUL!!! could you not hear the reason for being here, i mean anyone in a 5 mile radius could tell what the problem was...
We then get asked if we had taken him to a doctor and we promptly tell him about our morning visit to another doctor's rooms and inform him of what the outcome was... "My dear your child does not have flu... he has croup, we need to give him a quaterzone injection and need to put him on an adrenaline/saline nebulise and we will continue to monitor him... well this freaked me out BIG TIME! anyway after about two doses on the nebuliser Aidan still wasn't sounding to good so the doctor said he was going to refer him to one of the paeds, and wait for it.... we also had to admit him into hospital so that they could monitor him through the night and continue with the meds...
WOW what a SHOCK it now dawned on me the severity of it all, oh and the fact that we would spend Aidan's first birthday at the same place we were exactly one year ago, albeit for another reason...sad considering we were going to go to the aquarium... well after going into the childrens ward and having his next bout of nebulising we only realise then that it was already 7.30pm and now had to quickly jump into action as to supper plans and organising bags etc so Andrew and i rush off (leaving Aidan with one of the nurses we end up calling Gogo- this was very hard for us as it all happened so fast)to MacDonald's for dinner then home quickly where i jump in the shower then pack a bag for Aidan and i, we then rush back, to find most of the ward is in silence and all kids in their bed/cot except for our little fighter he is still firmly hanging onto Gogo...i grab Aidan and of to our ward we go, that night= more sleeplessness as we nebulise him every 1/2 hour then onto every hour then every 2 hours etc... long night ahead... however half way through the night Aidan is sounding considerably better and we anxiously await the rounds in the morning to find out if we would be discharged or not, daddy comes in at round 7.30am with Aidan's pressies and we all sing happy birthday to him...(what a way to spend it hey?)
8am draws near and Aidan goes for x-rays to see how he is doing, and now we wait (AGAIN) till rounds,Dr Omar comes in, and tells us he is pleased with Aidan's breathing and shows us the x-ray and points out that his airway is open very nicely and how pleased he is with the way the meds helped , we then get told he has mild bronchitis but that we can go home!!! YAY!!!
Aidan then spent the rest of the week getting better and was well enough to continue with the party on Saturday, which i think just topped his week for him as he was allowed to do as he pleased and what he pleased himself with was all the tasty treats he could eat, he spent 2 hours in one position eating everything he could find...
"All i can say is WE SURVIVED!!!"
Croup is a group of respiratory diseases that often affect infants and children[1] under age 6. It is characterized by a barking cough; a whistling, obstructive sound (stridor) as the child breathes in; and hoarseness due to obstruction in the region of the larynx. It may be mild, moderate or severe, and severe cases, with breathing difficulty, can be fatal if not treated in a hospital.[2] Another type of croup is known as spasmodic croup. People with spasmodic croup first catch a cold, rarely with fever, and then the croupy cough begins. In some cases spasmodic croup may begin suddenly without any preceding cold symptoms. Unlike viral croup, spasmodic croup usually recurs, and can occur in older children, and rarely even in adults. Spasmodic croup is thought to be related to allergies.
