Croup

Nate has croup. I'd heard of croup as one of the babies we went swimming with had it but had never heard the cough (bark). So when Nate woke up yesterday barking with a wheeze we took him to the GP as we didn't know what was wrong. Croup.

The GP's advice:

Keep him cool

Keep him calm 

Get some fresh air especially when coughing at night. 

We were prescribed Steroids as well however, the pharmacy didn't have them in stock and wouldn't have then until the morning. 

Fine, we keep him dosed up with calpol to keep the temperature at bay and he spent most of the day in between sleep and awake. 

Not a very happy bunny

Then at 9pm he woke up suddenly really confused and screamed when he saw me. I can't explain how upsetting it is for your son to not recognise you. To look at you directly and scream in terror. He had a high temperature but it was too soon for another dose of calpol. We spoke to NHS Direct who sent an ambulance round, they were here within five minutes and it was decided that Nate needed to go to A&E. 

At A&E his breathing started to get noisy and he was coughing more. As soon as we had seen the triage nurse another nurse came out with a cocktail of drugs: steroids, paracetamol  & ibuprofen. It took the full 4 hours they allocated for him to calm down and his breathing to be less laboured. 

Cuddled up in hospital

He is now back at home and has a very croaky voice but is happily playing with his Dalek's and Cybermen. I have never been so happy to hear endless chatter about Dr Who. 

Checking his temperature

I would love to hear about others experiences with Croup.