Croup

Lack of sleep and stress shorten the life span and our kids seem to be trying to get their inheritance early. After Jackson's strep 2 weeks ago and the stress of last week’s scare (Matthew’s malrotated intestines), we woke up early Tuesday morning to Matthew barking like a seal. Neither Alyssa nor Jackson had ever done this before, but I remembered in the back of my mind that it was a symptom of a common childhood illness. So, in the wee hours, before we high tailed it to the ER, we looked up ‘barking like a seal’ and found countless articles about ‘croup’. It wasn’t an emergency so we settled back in with our baby seal and headed off to the pediatrician on Tuesday. Yep, it’s croup and a double ear infection. Poor little guy.

Now Matthew is on 4 medications. Med A is 2 times a day. Med B is 3 times a day after feeding. Med C is 4 times a day 30 minutes before feeding. Med D is during feeding as needed. Goodness, I’m glad I’m a planner. Hopefully he’ll get over this particular virus/infection soon and we’ll be able to go back to just meds B, C and D.

But even with this ailment, Matthew’s feedings are much, much better. He is still taking more than before the meds, he’s calmer, and there are far fewer tears (both he and I). Very good news! We are even toying w/the idea of moving from 7 feeds a day (every 2.5 hours) to 6 (every 3 hours). We have a follow up with our GI next week and I’m excited to tell him the good news.

Today we are hopeful for health to return to all the kids, that good feedings continue, and for a restful night. *Crossing fingers*