Well we were back into routine for one day, before things got crazy, but such is life, especially life as a parent of young children. Yesterday was a pretty good day, it was a typical Monday, I scrambled to get ready on time, dropped the girls off at daycare, and headed to work. Had a great day with my kiddos at school, Ryan picked up the girls and we were all home together by 5. Then it was time for Payton to eat, and she wouldn't. She was crying like she was hungry, but she would latch on for maybe 5 seconds at a time then pull back like she was in pain. I though maybe she was gassy, so I gave her gas drops and then put her in the bath, trying to give her tummy time to settle before attempting to feed her again. When she got out of the bath, she became hysterical for no apparent reason. She began making an awful "honking" sound, kinda like a goose, and we worried that she couldn't breathe. She kept making the sound, then started gasping for breath, she got purple in the face, blue around her lips, then she stopped. She stopped struggling, stop making noise, and went completely still in my arms; she was exhausted. I panicked and moved her postion, and she startled and went back to crying/"honking." I immediately put her in her carseat, we put the girls in the car, and to the ER we went.
By the time we got there, she had fallen asleep and was no longer making the sound. Her color had returned to normal, and other than a raspy wheezing sound when she slept, she seemed okay. But I knew something was wrong, and I was scared she was going to start up again and my worst fear was that she would stop breathing. We knew that ER visits could take a while, so Brandon offered to come get Rylee and take her home so she could sleep in her bed. That was amazing because Rylee was happy, and we could focus on helping Payton get better. As soon as Brandon got there, we were called back, we kissed Rylee goodnight and went to see about Payton. The nurse in triage took her vitals and her blood pressure and oxygen levels were normal, but since she had become discolored at home, we were told she probably was low on oxygen at one point, and it was able to get back up to the normal levels once she calmed. We still didn't know what had happened, and I was scared they were going to send us home without any explanation since she wasn't doing anything at that point. We were sent back out into the waiting room, and she started "honking" again, but because we were in the ER, and I didn't feel as helpless, I realized what it was: she was coughing, not a typical little cough, a big, bad, croup cough.
We were taken back to see the dr, and she immediately confirmed just by hearing her cough that she had croup. They wanted to do more tests to be sure nothing else was going on, too, so she ordered chest x-rays, a soft tissue throat x-ray, bloodwork, and an rsv screening. Her white blood count was a little elevated, and there was a small amount of swelling in her throat, but everything else was clear. They gave her a steroid shot to help her fight off the cough and reduce the swelling in her throat, and instructed us to take her outside into cool air if she began another coughing fit. This would keep her from becoming short of breath again. We were also instructed to have her sleep in our room so we could hear if she had a coughing fit or began having difficulty breathing, and were told to definitely not send her to daycare until she no longer had the croup cough, and finally we were able to go home.
She was so worn out, she slept soundly last night. I kept waking to check on her, but she was fine. She coughed a little, but not a ton, and was able to get rest. This morning, she seems a bit better, very lethargic and tired, but not coughing a ton, and not crying. The crazy thing is she didn't have any symptoms before last night, her Daycare teacher said she was fine all day, I hadn't noticed anything that morning or anything. It hit her very suddenly, and that's what had us so freaked out. She also never ran fever, so I didn't think about a virus like croup. I'm glad she's okay, and I'm so thankful for my sweet baby girl. Rylee has never been to the ER, and was never sick as an infant. She got her first bad stomach virus just after she turned 1, and got her first bad cold that developed into bronchitis, when she was 18 months, but she was never, ever sick as a little baby. It was terrifying seeing Payton so miserable, and I'm so glad she seems to be on the mend.
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