Baby's 1st Trip to the ER

I mentioned last week that there were a number of baby firsts that happened over the past couple of weeks. Well, April 3 was Marshall's 1st trip to the Emergency Room :(

The previous Saturday marked his last scheduled day on his Xopenex nebulizer treatment. That whole week he seemed to be getting better and we thought his nasty cold was behind us.

Well, Saturday night, that all changed. Freddy had left around 8:00pm to pick his mom up from the airport. She was returning from a 2 month trip to Ecuador so I wasn't expecting him back until after midnight. I put Marshall down to sleep around 9:00pm and everything was fine. I went to bed myself around 10:00.

At 12:35am Marshall started crying. In an effort to help him sleep through the night, when he wakes in the middle of the night, we first try to put his pacifier in his mouth and most nights he will go right back to sleep. This night was no different. Once I put the pacifier in his mouth, he did go back to sleep. However, once I got back into bed, I heard the telltale sound of croup.

Growing up, one of my most vivid memories was my brother and his problems with croup and asthma. I specifically remember visiting him in the hospital and seeing him in a plastc bubble. So I knew exactly what that barking cough meant. What I didn't know was how serious it was.

I spent the next half hour trying to calm Marshall down. By then, he was obviously not feeling well and would not stop crying. He wouldn't eat and wouldn't lay back down in his crib. The only thing that would keep him calm was laying on my shoulder, where he eventually fell asleep. I knew at the very least that the doctor's office was going to get a call first thing in the morning. But I didn't know for sure if this was something that could wait.

So I called my mom. Luckily, she and my sister were just getting back from the movies so she was still up. As we were talking through our options, Marshall started wheezing loud enough for my mom to hear him through the phone. At that point she said we should take him in.

Freddy got home just as I was leaving a message for the oncall nurse. We decided to give him a Xopenex treatment to see if it would help. Just as we were finishing up, the nurse called us back and, after hearing his symptoms, advised us to take him intothe Emergency Room.

Since it was now 1:30 in the morning and there was no traffic, we made the decision to take him to the hospital that his doctor is affiliated with. With traffic, it takes us about 30 - 45 minutes to get there. With no traffic, we were there in 20 minutes.

Marshall was obviously uncomfortable with his breathing and the horrible coughing, but through it all he was still smiling and flirting with the nurses. When we were finished with the Triage nurse, she took us into the Pediatrics area where the doctor did confirm that Marshall had croup.

Poor baby was so tired you could see it in his face. Everytime he tried to doze off he would cough and wake himself up.





In addition, he had to have another nebulize treatment, which he hates. It was the only time during the entire ordeal that he really cried.





Once he was done with the treatment, they had to observe him for 4 hours to make sure he didn't have any type of reaction and improvd. Yep... you heard that right... 4 hours! So, Marshall and I slept on the bed and Freddy slept in the chair. Needless to say, while Marshall slept like a baby, Freddy and I didn't get much sleep. I really only dozed because I kept checking to make sure that Marshall was ok. They finally let us go around 7:00 in the morning since he was showing some improvement.

I'd like to say that Marshall was all better after that. Well, he continued to have a nasty cough and wheezing so we ended up back in the doctor's office this past Saturday morning. He is back on the breathing treatments until they tell us to stop. She did prescribe another medicine to add in with the Xopenex twice a day. I have to say that since we started that he seems to be coughing less but only time will tell.

Now I feel bad because I have horrible seasonal allergies, bad sinuses, and post nasal drip. All, of which, are familial :( that I probably passed onto my baby. I'm really hoping that once our weather dries up that Marshall's sinuses and congestion also dry up.

~AKO