The Croup

Well, Sarah has the croup for the first time. She had a runny nose on Monday and I thought it was teething stuff going on. By the time Wednesday rolled around she had a fever and dry cough. I took her to the doctor (my doctor had the day off so I saw another doctor in the same practice) and they suspected the flu so they took a culture. I had to hold her down while they stuck a big long swab up her nose, it broke my heart. The test came back negative and was told it was a virus they could do nothing about. Yesterday she was the same for most of the day until she woke up from her afternoon nap. She went downhill quickly in the afternoon. She was constantly out of breath and her cough sounded like a barking seal. It was so much tighter that it had been earlier in the day. She winced everytime she coughed and I could tell it really hurt. She also had a high fever again. I called the doctor and they had me come back in. Luckily this time I was able to see our regular doctor. She had a temperature of 103.2 and had lost 1/2 a pound from the day before because she won't eat and she is hardly drinking anything. They hooked her up to a monitor that measures the oxygen level in her blood. Her numbers were good so she was getting enough oxygen. Then they listened to her lungs and they are clear, thank goodness. The doctor was able to hear her breathing and coughing and finally he said that she had the croup. She has it pretty bad. He gave me some steroids to help reduce the swelling in her throat and make breathing easier. Then he told me all about the croup and gave me a handout describing what it is and how to treat it. Unfortunately it is a virus so there's nothing we can do to make it go away faster but there are things we can do to help her breathing.

So far we have been managing pretty well. Her cough lessens and worsens many times throughout the day. A couple times today I got the bathroom all steamy and we sat in there for 5-10 mintues to help her breathing. It did help. She also cried off and on throughout the day because her throat hurts so bad. I kept up with Motrin to help ease the discomfort and keep her fever down. It will take 3-4 days for the fever to go away and about a week for the cough to disappear. So we are staying home until she is better. It is so hard to see her so sick. It breaks my heart but she is strong and is handling it pretty well all things considered.