We spent our first night in the ER last night. Wow, that was fun. Garrett has always been susceptible to the croup, so because of that we've researched all of the ways to help him here at home. We sat in the bathroom with a steaming hot shower running, we gave him a breathing treatment that he didn't want and wouldn't cooperate for, I tried propping him up a lot with pillows. In the past atleast one of those tricks would work and after maybe an hour, Garrett would be fine and go back to sleep. Last night, nothing worked unless we were holding him directly over the humidifier, and even then it wasn't very much help. He was struggling to breathe, anytime he attempted to say anything to us it took a lot of effort for him to talk and his voice was really hoarse. At one point he looked to Keith and croaked, "Daddy help." Finally, at 3am, we headed to the hospital. I've been in an ER a handfull of times growing up for a variety of my siblings, but I've never had to go specifically for me and we've never taken Garrett. Keith was apparently super healthy growing up because he had never been in an ER before. It really wasn't the bad experience I was expecting. I've heard horror stories about people waiting for hours, but we were in and out within 2 hours so I didn't think that was too bad. Garrett was given a steriod to help reduce the swelling in his windpipe, then we had to hold him down so they could do a breathing treatment, and lastly we had the fun time of getting an x-ray on a 2 year old. You have to be part-contortionist to keep that lead apron on, plus hold your child's hands or legs a certain way, and keep them sitting where they need to be, it was crazy, but the x-ray tech was super nice and she got us done really quickly. We were given a prescription for a few more days worth of the steriod medicine and then we got to leave. We finally got into bed around 5:15 or so and I think I basically died because I was so exhausted, I don't even really know what Garrett did (he was in our bed with us), I assume he went to sleep as quickly as I did because I didn't hear anything until 7:30. As the day wears on, he's sounding better and better. I'm in hopes that we don't have to deal with this again tonight, obviously the meds should help that, but it won't prevent it completely. Croup is basically the cold virus that becomes croup in some kids (of course we're lucky enough to have one of those kids), but if you're not careful their vocal cords and windpipe can swell shut, hence the need for the steriods to prevent the swelling when the other remedies aren't working.
We've just had a crazy week and I ask myself on a daily basis when I'm going to get to sleep a full night. As I said in a previous blog, Garrett was sick most of Christmas Eve night with a stomach bug, then I made the super intelligent decision to take down Garrett's crib and move him into a big bed on Saturday. He's almost 2 and a half and too tall for the crib, according to their specs. He used to climb out of it all the time, but when I started making him nap in the big bed, he threw a big fit and stopped trying to climb out. So Saturday night was crazy because at that time we still had his crib set up as a toddler bed even though he looks huge in there. We kept hearing him wake up and then he would switch beds all night long, so Keith (being the kind-hearted Dad that he is) brought him to our bed because he felt sorry for him that his crib was no longer in existence. I can't sleep with a 2 year old kicking and poking me all night, plus he grinds his teeth terribly! So with his issues and Keith's snoring, I got no sleep Saturday night. Then we get the lovely croup episode on Sunday night, so I think I've had 5 hours of sleep in the past 2 days. On top of all of this, our water heater went out on Saturday, so during all of his free time Saturday, Sunday and now today, Keith is trying to get it replaced. Actually he has it replaced, but the new one is leaking, so he's had to buy all kinds of parts and tools trying to fix it. I feel the most sorry for him because he's probably had less sleep than me. I don't know why everything has to happen at once. Of course the crib thing is totally my fault and believe me, had I known the croup was going to pop up out of nowhere last night, I wouldn't have taken down the crib when I did.
I never knew parenting would be so crazy. I guess my parents did it with appearing ease since there were 5 of us, they probably just walked around in a state of crazy all of the time and that was just normal. (I'm kidding, Momma!) Nobody points out all of these fun things when you're pregnant or talking about having a baby. You might hear a few things about the lack of sleep the first few months, but nobody mentioned the lack of sleep for years later on. And to think that I actually want another one. Am I crazy?
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