Eventful week

What a week we had last week. I was home with Jack while Eric's parent re-cooperated from an upper respiratory cold. I was with him Monday - Thursday am. It was so nice being there with him and I was able to get some work done while he played. Tuesday night we were up from 2-5am because he had a bad dream (I think) and then we were up just as long Wed night/Thurs am.

Jack was starting to get stuffy and had a runny nose. I thought it was the flu mist he got Tuesday afternoon. Turns out it was a respiratory virus that he picked up somewhere. Wed night around 1:45 am, he woke up crying and coughing and had a hard time breathing. Eric and I tried to run a hot shower thinking the steam would help his breathing but Jack was too upset and would not calm down to allow it to work. He kept telling me that he needed medicine and that his throat was hurting. I gave him water and noticed he was shaking. At that moment I told Eric that we needed to get to a hospital. It was the longest ride of my life. Jack was struggling, crying, coughing, and very upset. We finally get to the ER and the triage nurse said he had croup. This is something Eric knows about well. He and both of his parents suffered with this when they were children.

Once we got into a room, the staff gave him a breathing treatment, which opened up Jack's airway and he was able to breath within a few minutes. His O2 was 93 so they decided to give him steroids to open things up a little faster. Once Jack could breath easily again, he was so happy and chatty. The doctors observed him until 4:45am and we went home. Jack was asleep before we hit the highway. We were told that croup is caused by a respiratory virus and because children have small airways anyway, the irritation and swelling in that area can cause difficulty breathing. Cold air can help open things up so we'll try that should this happen again. It was such a scary thing to go through and to see your child in panic is worse. He is now suffering through the cold but doing much better. We were both up by 8:30am and other than an occasional cough, you couldn't tell anything happened. Jack was his happy self.

Sunday we decorated pumpkins and they turned out pretty well. Tonight we will trick-or-treat by visiting family in the area. I can't see Jack going up to a strangers house and I think he'll like seeing people he knows. He is going to dress-up as a Carolina Panther. Pictures to come!

The baby is doing well. I think I felt movement over the weekend but can't be sure. I didn't feel it again so it could have been something else. I have an appointment tomorrow that should be uneventful. I will talk to the doctor about not inducing. We'll see what he says. I also have my hematologist appointment on Thursday. He will just test my blood levels and I will likely not have to see him again until Feb or so. At the hospital Jack said he thinks we will have a girl with pretty hair. :) We'll know soon enough.