13 Jan 2011 4 Comments

Croup

Thirteen days into the New Year and I still haven’t posted anything new. I blame it to the nasty croup.

The Small Fry started with a normal sounding scratchy throat on Tuesday morning, by night time it sounded phlegmy. Not too long after he fell asleep, he coughed a little and started throwing up so I called his pediatrician and she told me that it’s most likely that little cough triggered a gag so he threw up. After changing his clothes and the bed sheets, he asked for a small piece of banana and went back to sleep.

About an hour later, I noticed that he was making a harsh, raspy, whooping, gasping sound when he breathes in. Plus a mild fever, so I immediately called his pediatrician since Michael and I were so scared that he’s having difficulty breathing. She told me to open the windows (since our humidifier broke a few days before) and keep an eye on him. Just right before midnight, the doctor called again to check on Jordan – she listened to his breathing over the phone and asked us to look for trouble signs. We should watch the little dent in his neck just above the breastbone, if it caves in with each labored breath. She told us that if this happens, we should bundle him up and take him outside into the cool night air for 10-20 minutes. Thankfully though, his breathing improved just by sleeping with the window open.

I took him in to the doctor’s office in the morning and it was croup. They gave him a dose of medicine and the scary stridor (the gasping sound) never came back. He still however has the lingering phlegmy cough which we were told could last for several days.

Has anyone else dealt with croup before? What was your experience?

by Joy in Health