Croup commiserating

Two times over the past couple months, sneezing and a runny nose have been precursors to croup for Elijah. That is why I was on high alert on Sunday night, the day these same symptoms started popping up again. He was fine all through that night, and woke up yesterday morning with a gunky cough and a runny nose. We figured we were past the part where croup was a worry because usually it happens on that first night of symptoms.

Early this morning I heard Elijah start to cry and then he was really struggling to catch a breath on the inhale. I leaped off the bed in a panicked frenzy and ran into his room while Dan ran into the bathroom to turn on the shower. We both recognized the sound over the baby monitor immediately and knew the drill. I felt like we were fire fighters!

When I picked him up, he was pretty upset and really struggling to catch a breath. For a second or two, I had the thought, THIS REALLY IS NOT GOOD, but when I brought him into the bathroom, he calmed down pretty quickly. As long as he wasn't crying, he was able to get air into his lungs. I knew we had to keep him calm, so Dan and I took turns holding him as the bathroom steamed up. We also gave him a nebulizer treatment. After 20 minutes he was much better, but we could still feel junk in his chest when he breathed. I didn't want to put him back in bed because I knew he would cry and get upset and then not be able to breathe again. So we sat up with him until it was our usual wake-up time and then we went about our morning routine.

Dan had to cancel a job he had lined up for today (ARGHHH!!!) and he will be taking Elijah into see his pediatrician this afternoon. I did a little research and it seems as though he has spasmodic croup, which just means that it is recurring and is linked to a respiratory illness. I talked to a nurse on the Lung Line, and she gave me the impression that this is not normal. He should not be experiencing croup so regularly and so severely. Her thought was that there is most likely an underlying reason for it. Maybe asthma, maybe airway problems (he does have a slightly narrowed airway), maybe something else. She suggested I get him in to see his pulmonologist, so I have already scheduled an appointment for that. He can't get in till December 17th, so I'm hoping his ped will be able to give us some insight in the meantime.

This episode wasn't nearly as bad as the last two, but all three have been really scary. Like, in my head I actually think, could this be it? Is he going to stop breathing? Since the second episode last month (the scariest), I've actually lost a lot of sleep over this, worrying about him, listening extra close to the monitor, checking on him repeatedly. From what I understand, there is really nothing we can do to prevent it. We have been running Elijah's vaporizer every night in his room, but the Lung Line nurse said they do not recommend that anymore because of the insane amount of bacteria and mold that build up in them that are then sent back into the air and into his little body. The only home treatments for croup are a steamy bathroom, cold, humid outside air and nebulizer treatments. We do all of these things with every episode, but they don't always work for him as we found out last month as we rode in an ambulance to the ER.

This freaks me out. I worry and anticipate another episode every night. I am praying that we can get some answers so we can all get some restful sleep and not have to spend so much energy worrying about this.