Croup has the sound of a barking seal. It sounds like no other cough. It is an awful, scary sound. My twins have gotten croup more times than I can keep track. What makes it so scary is that they can go into respiratory distress very quickly. Thankfully, we have never had to call 911. We have taken a number of urgent trips to the ER and to Cook Children’s Urgent Care though. Last night was one of those nights, as well as this past Saturday night.
Saturday night Charlie came down with the croup. I heard it coming on Friday. It can start with raspy breathing. We tried the nebulizer. Sometimes that helps, sometimes it does nothing. The doctor said it doesn’t hurt to try that first. I also used essential oils on Friday night. It kept the coughing away and he was breathing steadily with no signs of distress. I am not a “granola” person, but I do use oils when possible to avoid the use of serious medications such as steroids. This weekend and last night, the oils didn’t work, so I had to get them to urgent care.
Yesterday was very strange. Scary strange. Alex started having some raspy breathing several hours after coming home from preschool. I had my Lake Cities Moms of Multiples meeting last night, which happened to a Fit4Mom workout night at North Park in Southlake. Both the Vice Presidents in the club were not able to attend, so I knew that I really needed to be there. Alex still hadn’t coughed yet, so I thought it was best to take him with me and see if he does cough. Sure enough, by the end of the workout at 8 PM he coughed just a handful of times, but it was enough to hear the croup and what they call a “stridor”.
Alex was chilling in the double Bob Jogger. He was a happy camper throughout the workout. Only coughed a few times at the end. Glad I brought him with me, so we could go directly to urgent care!
I left from the workout and took Alex directly to urgent care. While driving Alex had a coughing episode that apparently frightened him enough that he started screaming. Because of the stridor he couldn’t catch his breath and his scream became a silent scream with just some raspy gasps in between. He couldn’t breath. Very scary. I was about 2 miles from urgent care, but thankful the lights were all green and traffic was light after 8 PM. I drove a bit fast. Understatement, but I don’t want to incriminate myself, so I plead the 5th. I rushed him right inside, not even grabbing the diaper bag. They took us right back to triage. Shortly thereafter they administered the steroid. It is remarkable how fast it works. Within minutes he was breathing more normal again. Not completely normal, but enough that he was out of respritory distress. He was classified as having moderate croup. The nurse said that if it had moved into severe croup they would have been hospitalizing him. What scares me is how fast it comes on. While at the workout he seemed normal. Just those couple of coughs were enough for me to know that he was on his way to getting croup that would need treatment.
We have done the hot steamy showers in the past, but it has never helped us enough. I just spend hours in the steam only to have to go to urgent care regardless. Ugh. I am thankful for modern medicine and treatments that work so effecctivly. Having a child who can’t breath is awful. You want that problem fixed. Immediately. Once again, I am so thankful it can be fixed immediately. The doctor and nurses at Cooks Children treated Alex very quickly and had us going home last night after a quick stop at urgent care.
I am also EXTEMELY thankful that my husband is home again. He went back to Florida last week to be with his Father. He booked a one way flight, so we weren’t sure when he was coming home. After Charlie’s bout of croup this past weekend he decided to come home on Monday. I am glad he did, as Brielle got sick as well. No croup for her, but she was sent home from school with a fever yesterday.
All three kids are much better this morning. No fevers in this household. No croupy coughing either. Thank you Jesus for quick healing! Just three crabby children who need a bit more sleep and rest to completely heal today. And a mommy who needs some nap time as well today.
Above: Pics we took at urgent care this weekend. We tried to have some fun, even though I had to wake Alex and Brielle from deep sleep to take Charlie. Thankful Justin was home last night, so I could take Alex alone and the other two were able to stay home and sleep.
