Our stay in the hospital

As I said in my last post Drew was diagnosed with croup last Tuesday. He was given a steroid shot and we were sent home to watch him and told him to come back if his condition or breathing worsened. From then on Drew progressively got worse, he wasn't eating but maybe a cracker here or there. He was drinking minimal fluids, I could get him to take a few sips of milk, water or juice every so often. Drew does not like juice and at one point he even drank some orange juice, which I thought was a good sign. We even tried a chocolate milk shake, that was well received, he drank about a half a sippy cup of shake and then was done. We didn't immediately take Drew back to the doctor because the information our pediatrician gave us said that croup worsens, then improves. At this point Drew was not running a fever, breathing fine and sleeping pretty well.

On Thursday Drew woke up and was running a 102 fever. Again all the info I researched said that was totally normal for croup. This entire time Drew was not active, he wanted to lay on the couch or in our bed and watch Elmo aka Sesame Street. He would just snuggle up to either one of us and not want us to leave his side. When he woke up from his afternoon nap on Thursday(he had been taking two naps these past few days) he was visibly in pain from coughing. We had been alternating Tylenol and Motrin for pain and I gave him a dose of Motrin which gave him no relief. He was crying and crying and nothing would soothe him, not a paci not Elmo, not water, milk or even his lovey Mr. Cow. Brendan came home from work and suggested we call our neighbor who is a nurse, she could hear him coughing and suggested we take him back to our local clinic before they closed at 6pm. She thought they would be able to prescribe some cough medicine to help relax his throat and lungs.

We arrived at the clinic and immediately saw the doctor. He took a listen to his lungs and looked in his throat and told us he thought we should admit him to stay in the hospital for the night. Cue the tears from Drew's pregnant hormonal mom. The doctor said he was ordering an IV, a croup tent and breathing treatments with epinephrine. We were escorted over the ER waiting room and as I called my parents I lost it. He's my baby, he's too young to stay in the hospital. I wish I could stay for him. Now, I did and I do realize that I was a bit emotional and that we are very blessed to have a healthy thriving toddler. Many parents face long extended hospital stays with their child. So I understood just how blessed we truly are, I am just pregnant an overly hormonal.



We were taken to our room and Drew was not keen on the hospital. Not to mention about 5 different people rushed in to help with him. Our nurses were fabulous, they could see he was scared and took everything very slowly, letting us take him to the lounge at the end of the hall to look at this huge cat book. Strangest thin I've ever seen, but Drew likes it so we went with it. This CNA didn't quite get the memo as the nurses in going slow with a toddler that is terrified. He was very kind but kept prodding at Drew, cue freak outs 1,2 and 3. Finally one of the nurses told him all those things could be done later. At 8pm my parents brought us dinner and Drew had his first chicken McNuggets. Normally we don't eat McDonalds but considering the circumstances I thought he would eat a McNugget and he did. He ate 1 and a half nuggets which was more than he had in the past day. We also got him to drink a half sippy cup of milk and we asked to hold off on the IV since he was taking some fluids. The nurse that was going to have to put his IV in was more than happy to wait. During a meltdown my stepdad took Drew to the drinking fountain and he loved drinking water out of it. Score!! So no IV it was for the time being.





That night Drew slept in the crib, and both Brendan and I stayed with him. Brendan went home and got Drew his jammies, pillow and blankets. I'm so thankful we live close to the hospital, having those things from home for Drew made him more comfortable and me too. We were able to bring in toys and books and anything he'd eat or drink. Drew slept really well from 12-6am. He only woke up two times coughing and crying. Each time the nurses came in and gave him a dose of Tylenol.






Drew woke up the next morning and was still not feeling well but the croupiness of his cough had improved. The nurses found a wagon and we toted Drew around the floor in that. We put his blanket and pillow in there and he was happy as a clam. He had all the nurses wrapped around his finger and kept getting stickers. We saw the doctor at 10am and he and the respiratory therapist were comfortable with us to take him home and watching him. While waiting for our discharge paperwork Drew fell asleep, he was so tired. We had to document this occurrence because this NEVER happens!!


After we got home we all took a much needed nap. On Saturday morning Drew woke up and for the first time since Monday night he got out his toys!! This may seem like small peanuts but this child has shown no interest in activity most of the week, so for him to want to play, that's huge!!! Yesterday he did great, he still gets tired after playing a bit and wants to lay down on the couch, but his cough has gotten ten times better, he hasn't run a fever since Thursday night and he's eating more and more each day. I'm confident he is on the mend and hopefully this will be our only bout of sickness this winter. This morning he is happily playing and exploring the presents under the Christmas tree.

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