Last night Janie went to sleep like normal but then suddenly woke up at 11 pm with a weird cough that sounded more like barking. She was also having trouble breathing and was wheezing too. At one point, she coughed so hard that she threw up. We were worried about her breathing so we drove her to Mommy’s work to get her check out.
Once we arrived, she was so mad because she just wanted to go back to sleep but was having trouble breathing.
She cried as the triage nurse tried to take her vitals but she allowed her to put the pulse-ox on her toe and the blood pressure cuff on her leg.
In the exam room, another nurse came in to examine her. They said she had croup and started her on a cool mist that came out of a tube.
We blew it in her face for a good hour and she started to sound better and perked up. The resident also came in and looked at her ears and listened to her chest. By then, she was much calmer and cooperative.
They left us in the room to have her monitored and to receive another medicine that would calm down the coughing some more. She took it out of an oral syringe like a champ.
As we waited some more, Janie became much more comfortable and played with the tube, watched a little tv, and was more herself. The nurses and resident were really nice, checked on us regularly, and brought her juice and a stuffed star. The attending took a while to come see us but he was thorough.
Luckyily, croup is a viral infection that affects the upper airway more than the lungs. It was described as an inflammation of her vocal cords, which causes the barking cough. She also had no runny nose and no fever, which we are happy about. At 3am, she was discharged and we were given the recommendation to get a cool humidifier going in the house. Also, if she were to start “barking” again, all we would need to do is drive her around with the windows down in the cold air or take her around the block in the stroller. Apparently the cold misty SF fog is the perfect remedy for croup.
By the time we got home, she was asleep and then went straight to bed and was out like a light. In the morning, she was still coughing but it sounded like a regular cough. Despite having less sleep last night, she’s back to the same happy little girl we know and love.
