I recently regaled you with the tale of taking Bowser to the emergency vet. This time, it was Adelaide who needed the after-hours doctor... (beware: this is gonna get really long)
When I picked Adelaide up from her babysitter on Thursday afternoon, I noticed an odd noise when she was breathing. It kinda sounded like she was breathing through some congestion in her throat. Her babysitter didn't say anything, so she obviously hadn't noticed any issues, so I assumed it was probably just some drainage from a cold or maybe she had some sort of allergy- this crazy Texas weather lends itself to those sorts of things. Once home, she was acting totally normal, playing and smiling, so we decided to head on out to Whole Foods to pick up Adelaide's Valentine's Day gift for her babysitter.
On our way home we stopped by Taco Bueno to quickly grab some dinner (btw: the new Taco Bueno in Allen could use some major managerial changes, nothing about that particular location is quick! But I won't go into that.) While Adelaide, Bowser and I were waiting in the car far too long, Adelaide started fussing, which developed into crying, which continued off and on during the ride home. I was a bit concerned at this point, she was still having that noisy breathing and coughing some, but what really had me concerned what the almost quiet, sad crying. Anyone who knows Adelaide, knows she doesn't cry quietly. In fact, she would probably stand a really good chance in the race for loudest, most intense cry-er in the world! Jordan thought she was just crying from being stuck in her car seat for so long, and when we got home and got her out of the seat, she was fine, so I figured he was probably right. Bath went fine. Bedtime bottle went fine. She still had that rattly breathing, but otherwise everything seemed normal.
About 2 1/2 hours later, we were alseep when I heard some noises coming from the monitor- not crying, not fussing, not noises that sounded familiar. Crying quickly followed though, and for her to be awake and crying almost 2 1/2 hours after going to sleep was not normal, so I headed in. The rattly breathing was very obvious and when I picked her up over my shoulder, I could feel that her nose had been running a lot. She was making these weird noises, I called Jordan in immediately to hear it. We determined it was coughing, but it wasn't like any cough I had ever heard before, much less from her. We both agreed something was going on, and decided to take her temperature, or try to at least. As soon as we put her down to take it, the coughing got worse and she started crying again- lying down flat was not an option. I tried to take it while Jordan held her over his shoulder, but as I'm sure you would imagine, that didn't work. At all. Next order of business was to start calling people. Of course, it was about 10:30 on a Thursday night, so it took calling 3 different people before I woke someone up (obviously going to bed early runs in my blood). The opinion I got was that she probably just had some drainage, like I thought, and that as long as she didn't have a fever, she was probably fine. Thinking back on it now, I think I may have left out the part about her cough being reeeeeally weird sounding. Might've been important. I was figured she would be fine, maybe just a long night, luckily, Jordan didn't.
So, off we went to Acute Kids, arriving about 5 minutes before they were due to close.( They were great! Totally opposite experience than we had at the emergency vet the previous week.) The doctor knew within the first minute from the distinctive cough and hoarse sounds Adelaide was making that she had croup. On a side note- Adelaide was so amazing while we were there. No crying, no fussing, and lots of smiles, even through the sickness. She was given a single dose of steroids to help reduce the inflammation that was causing the difficult and noisy breathing and we were given instructions to watch her closely through the night and advice on how to deal with the coughing should it return. And we headed home.
Adelaide was sound asleep in her car seat when we got home (sound familiar?) at about 11:30. We decided to leave her in the car seat since we were advised to have her sleep on an incline anyway and got the trusty ol' rock n' play out to switch her to once she woke up- which amazingly didn't happen until 4:30 am- and I got out a sleeping bag (Jordan sweetly blew up the camp mat for me) and settled in on the floor next to her. She seemed to be sleeping well, I would know, because I wasn't. I leaned over to make sure I could hear her breathing every half hour or so. When she woke up at 4:30, I took her out of the car seat and started debating on what to do. We were also instructed to do what we could to keep her from crying, as it could cause the coughing to return or worsen, so after some debating, I decided to give her a bottle before putting her in the rock n' play, hoping it would help her fall asleep and maybe allow her to sleep a bit later, making up for the late bedtime. Amazingly, it worked exactly how I had hoped! She spent the next day, Valentine's Day, home with me, and it was actually a fantastic day! She never ran more than a 99.something fever, and was in a great mood during all of her awake time and napped great. No crying all day.
She seems to be getting over it just fine. Still a little coughing and rattly breathing from time to time. But no fever and tons of smiles. In fact, I finally caught a laugh on camera yesterday!
Her first time waking up sick was definitely scary, but it looks like we made it through. Next time, I'm not going to doubt myself when I think something is off and I am so grateful for Jordan seeing what I didn't see... or didn't want to see. Better safe than sorry, I'm going to remember that!
I was a little sad to miss out on the Valentine's Day fun with my kids at school on Friday, but I know they had a great day anyway. And spending the day with my sweet baby girl was definitely better than any party or cookie I might've eaten.
Now for the less than professional video of her laughing. Please pardon the weird angle, I had to try to record her without her seeing the iPad. Once she sees it, our chances are usually shot. Also, please ignore the silly noises coming from me... the things people do to get a baby to smile and laugh...
