First visit to the ER

Friday night seemed like it was going to be an ordinary night. Jake and I put the boys to bed, then settled on the couch while he watched tv and I read. About 10:00, I heard a sound that can only be described as a barking seal. I thought it was the dog choking on the bone that he'd been eating earlier. Nope, the dog was okay. I settled back down on the couch, but heard it again. Maybe it is Krystian. He has been sick lately and ended up crying himself to sleep, maybe he's coughing. The third time, Jake and I looked at each other and RAN to Aydyn's room. My poor baby couldn't breathe and literally sounded like a seal. Can we say FREAK OUT?!

I pick up my baby and tell Jake to call the pediatrician. I checked his mouth just to double check that he had not choked on anything. Well, that made him mad and he refused to come to me. Jake throws me the cell phone and picks up Aydyn. The operator for the answering service has patched us through to the doctor on call, which is not our usual doctor :(. I explain to the doctor that my 19 month old cannot breath and sounds like a barking seal. He apparently is not freaked out and only tells me to sit in the bathroom with hot water running. The doctor doesn't tell me what it could be ("Sometimes this happens to children." is what he said) nor does he tell me to bring him into the office on Saturday morning. I was very upset. Who can blame me? (He didn't tell me who he was either.)

Jake called his parents who came over while I was sitting in the bathroom with Aydyn (he finally came back to me). While his breathing was getting better, he still sounded bad so Jake and I took him to McLeod ER. Before we left, Jake's dad said, "It sounds like the croup. But take him just in case." We got to the ER at about 10:30. FYI: If you live in Florence, they are doing construction in the ER so the waiting room is 3/4 smaller than normal. After we describe Aydyn's symptoms, the nurse at check in says its croup. We sit for 20 minutes. They call him to take his vitals. Sit for another 20 minutes, they take him back for an x-ray. Jake got to enjoy that fun. They had to do 3 x-rays in total because they didn't realize that his onsie had metal buttons on it when they did the first x-ray. After the x-ray we wait another 10 to 20 minutes, and get taken back to a room. The nurse comes in says the doctor will be in in a few minutes. About 5 or 10 minutes later, the doctor walks in says it is croup. We can do a nebulizer or we can do an inhaler. Knowing that Aydyn won't sit still for long, I opted for the inhaler which is only if he gets bad again. We're sent home after a dose of steriods with a prescription for the inhaler and for more prednisone. All in all we were only in the ER for 2 hours.

I went from being scared and frustrated (with the pediatrician) to being completely calm and collected at the ER. This is not usually the case. We got home, and the 3 of us slept until almost 9 am on Saturday. Aydyn is much better now, but you can tell that his poor little body is fighting something. Even though it wasn't a bad trip to the ER, I am praying that it is my last one for a LONG time.