Croup

I'm pretty sure Max has croup for the first time. Scary stuff this croup. I was getting ready to fold one last load of laundry (the dryer had gone off and the house was relatively quiet) when I heard him coughing and having difficulty breathing. Forget the adage of never waking a sleeping child. In truth, I'm not sure he was asleep, but he sure wasn't calling out for me. I couldn't remember what to do so I took him into the bathroom and steamed it up, then out into the cold night air, then back in the the steamy bathroom. I also forced some Benadryl (cause I thought he was choking on flem) and Tylenol down his throat and took his tempature (101 ish). Rocked him a bit, gave him a really big pillow to prop himself up with to sleep, some water, a blanket in case he got cold since I took off his sleep blanket.

Came back to the computer to find that everything I did was a good choice and that my memory served me well, except for giving the Benadryl. The new humidifier I just bought a few months ago broke and I haven't replaced it. I will likely be doing that tomorrow morning cause it sounds like this can last a few days.

Scary stuff this croup. Normally, I have his monitor all the way across the room in my bathroom and his is across the room in his room so I only hear the major stuff, but I think I'm going to move it close tonight. The instruction that said if the breathing gets really bad to head to the ER with the windows down freaked me out a bit cause it implies SERIOUS/don't fool around. I actually don't think it will come to that, but I'm glad that I immediately got him up and did the bathroom steam and outside route.

Did I mention this whole difficulty breathing/croup thing is scary stuff?