I called Michael around 10:30 PM, who was still down at the church, and he came and we sat with Charlie in the van, letting cool air from the air conditioner blow on him to help relax his airways. He seemed to calm back down and Michael left and Charlie and I went to bed. Everyone slept until about 2:30 when I heard Charlie wake up. He was up on all fours in his bed, just gasping for air. Michael got home around 3 AM and by that time, Charlie had calmed back down and both boys were now awake and ready to eat. I considered taking him up to the ER once Michael had gotten home, but he was calm again and I know that with croup, the cough is always the worst at night. I thought that we would just try and survive the rest of the night and then head to the pediatrician first thing in the morning for a steroid treatment to help him.
The night didn't get any easier. Charlie ended up laying down with me and every hour or so he would wake up, gasping for air with this horrible wheezing sound. As we got closer and closer to eight in the morning, it was actually getting worse. Now instead of disappearing once he was up and calm, he now had these wheezing sounds (called stridors) when he was sitting still and calm in my lap. I called the pediatrician and made an appointment for eleven while Michael took Lucy to daycare. I took Alex with me so that Michael could stay home. He was going to shower and do some cleaning/packing while he was child-free. By this time, it was clear that Charlie was running a fever and Alex also felt warm and wasn't acting like himself.
Waiting to be called back at the pediatrician
We got to the pediatricians office at 11. We were seeing one of the other doctors since ours was out of town. As the nurse left the room, she said, "Dr. Honeycutt is running a little behind today since she's the only doctor here." Well, a little behind to me means 15-20 minutes .. . 30 minutes at the most. An hour later. . . .
Yes, by this time, my boys were both so pitiful looking. They clearly did not feel well and were getting really tired of being confined in one room. (As was their Mommy!)
Dr. Honeycutt was, of course, very apologetic. You could tell that she was frazzled with the day that she was having, but she was so excellent in her examination of Charlie and really took my concerns seriously. Of course, after laying Charlie down on the exam table, she could tell that he was one sick little boy. She wanted to check for several different things so first he had his nosed swabbed to test for RSV and he was also given an albuterol treatment to help open up his lungs.
Alex slept through his brother's breathing treatment
Charlie slept through his breathing treatment as well!
After the treatment was completed and Dr. Honeycutt came back, it was even more obvious how much Charlie was struggling to breathe. His PulseOx was showing that he was getting enough oxygen in his body, but he was having to work so hard to breathe and his stridors were becoming louder and louder, even though we were sitting quietly. Dr. Honeycutt was very concerned at this point and diagnosed him with a severe case of croup. Her recommendation was to call and have him admitted to the hospital overnight. This would allow them to give him a steroid treatment and make sure that his oxygen levels stayed where they needed to be. Since his problems had come on so quickly, she was afraid that things could go downhill just ask quick.
Alex chose at this moment to throw up all over the room, lest we forget that he was sick too! We got him cleaned up and Dr. Honeycutt recommended at that point that we call for an ambulance to come and transport Charlie to the hospital since I was the only one with the boys. This way, Charlie's breathing could be monitored closely and I would be available to care for Alex if he started throwing up again. I called Michael, gave him a list of things to bring and to meet me at the hospital.
I cannot describe the feeling of watching them put Charlie into the ambulance. Here they were, strapping my tiny little boy onto the stretcher and hooking him up to monitors. He was so good, just sat and watched all that they did and didn't cry at all. It was so hard to watch them take him and not be able to be with him but I had Alex to think about too, so we got into the van and headed towards the hospital. Looking back, I have no idea how I held myself together - I was so stressed because I had one little boy going to the hospital, another little boy who was sick as well and I had no idea how in the world I was going to be there for both of them, let alone worry about my other child who was at school! Thankfully, when I called my mom, she was able to come straight up the mountain and pick Lucy up at school. (She had already been planning on coming up on Saturday.)
When I got to the hospital and finally got back to where Charlie was, he was surrounded by five or six pretty ER nurses and EMS staff, all oohing and ahhing over him. I guess I should get used to my handsome little man attracting lots of female attention. ;) Michael arrived shortly after that. We ended up having to stay in a room in the ER for a couple of hours because there wasn't a room available up on the pediatric floor. They gave Charlie a steroid treatment while we were down there. Both boys were so tired at this point because they hadn't had an afternoon nap and they just felt so lousy.
Look at my matching boys - Charlie and Daddy!
Mommy and Alex
Finally, around five, we got settled up on the pediatric floor. Charlie got hooked up to all the monitors and we decided to feed both of the boys while all the initial paperwork got done. Alex took this opportunity to throw up again . . .all over Charlie's bed. Once we got everything cleaned up, Michael took Alex home and Charlie and I settled in. He was so tired that he settled right down and fell asleep.
He slept pretty well - he got so upset and loud when the nurse came in and bothered him for his vitals at 11 PM, she didn't come back in to take his vitals again until 7 AM! She did come in the room several times to look at the monitors and check and see if he had eaten anything, (We had to record his feedings on a white board.) but she didn't come near Charlie. . . I think she was scared of him! Cute story - he woke up at 2:30 and just looked around the room, a little disoriented. I got him settled back down easily since he wasn't hungry and he slept til 4:30 when he woke up to eat. Come to find out later that was the time when Alex woke up to eat. . . a little twin connection there, maybe??
He was definitely feeling better in the morning. There was still a little wheezy sound when he coughed, but overall, he was feeling much better. We got checked out and home around noon.
Charlie hanging out in his hospital bed
Being silly, waiting for the doctor to let us go home
Ready to go home!
During the boys' afternoon nap on Saturday though, Alex started making the same wheezing sounds. My mom had just left to go home, so I called her and asked her to come back and Michael headed to the ER with Alex. They came home around 7 PM and Alex had been given a steroid treatment as well. ( A different one than Charlie). He also had a prescription for a steroid over the next three days. Neither boy slept all that well on Saturday night which of course meant that no one else slept all that well either! Michael had to get up and go to church; Lucy went with him but the boys and Mom and I stayed home. Also during this time, the water at the parsonage decided to cut off. It runs on a well along with the church. It had cut out in the middle of my shower on Saturday night as well but had come back about 30 minutes later . . .we thought it was due to the large amount of laundry Mom had done that day. But on Sunday when I went to wash off the bottles and pump equipment, no water came out of the faucet! It got taken care of once church was over but it just added to the "fun" of our weekend.
Both boys are doing better now - fevers are gone and Charlie no longer has a wheeze. He does have a runny nose, but you can tell that he is feeling much better. We took Alex back to the doctors today since his cough almost sounds worse than before. Dr. Bernstein said that he should be back to normal in a day or so and that while the wheeze sounds scary, his lungs were clear and he wasn't having to work too hard to breathe. Hopefully, all of this mess will be behind us tomorrow - everyone here needs a good nights sleep!
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