The Croup

Last Sunday Angelina had a few sniffles and was a little quieter than normal. No big deal. Until the evening at bedtime, then the crying started, and then the coughing started. But not just any cough, she had the classic 'barking seal' cough. Each time she coughed she cried it caused so much pain. Then the fever. Never dangerously high, but when you're the parents and its 2am and your baby is burning up at 101.6F, it might as well be. Initially when it was just crying + low grade fever we wondered about a UTI. But once the coughing started and the fever spiked I knew it wasn't that, so went through all the likely options. She had all the classic symptoms of The Croup - caused by a number of viruses, mostly parainfluenza. Monday I called the pedi who agreed it sounded like croup, told me what to watch for and when to bring her to the ER, if necessary. She had no appetite for solids or her sippy cup, but she was nursing. A lot. I figured that was a good sign. All I can say is, I'm so glad I'm still nursing her. For 2.5 days she wouldn't eat or drink anything at all, but she'd nurse. In addition to reassuring me that she was breathing ok if she was nursing fine, she was at least getting some nourishment and fluids, although mommy was getting sore, not being used to nursing so often anymore (usually it's only 2x/day now).

It got worse before it got better, but by late Wednesday when we had our Thanksgiving meal with friends, she was on the mend. Still not her self - and indeed, a week later, she's still coughing a bit and cranky much more than normal - but definitely improving.

On the plus side for her, instead of having Mommy and Papa home for 4 days of Thanksgiving, she had Mommy for the whole week and Papa for some extra hours too!

And - knock on wood - we managed to avoid a trip to the ER.