Full of Croup!

I'm sorry to say it, but we're totally full of croup. Norah, our beloved pooch, is no longer the only thing barking at our house. I'm talking or course about the breathing condition that is best known for its barking accompanying cough.

It started with Marin, then it spilled over to me. So far Jason has remained partially spared, but I doubt for long. That puppy stirs in your lungs, and you just can't do anything about it but cough your brains out. Poor Marin coughed so badly one night that she got sick all over herself and her bed. Since it was the middle of the night and I didn't feel like changing bedsheets, she came into our bed- only to do the same thing there a few hours later- all over mommy. We stripped our bedsheets, and changed everyone's pj's, and put Marin to sleep the rest of the night in the crib. She woke up there that morning groggily telling me, "Mommy, I trow up". Friday morning we went to the pediatrician, where they confirmed that it was definitely good that we came in. Poor Marin had it bad. She was given a few different medicines, including breathing treatments from the nebulizer. When we got home, Daddy had stripped all the bed sheets, including mattress pads, and thrown them in the washer. God bless a man who does pukey laundry times three beds.

Marin didn't mind the nebulizer too badly. As long as we turned on a little Toy Story, for the 20 minutes or so that it took to give to her, she was fine to breathe it in. Poor thing looked rough though. Nose pouring snot, eyes watering and that cough that seriously haunts me. Any parent knows the one. The problem was, the medicine that we put in the nebulizer had a steroid in it that was like giving her a shot of espresso. Poor thing got so jacked up on that stuff, that she couldn't sleep. It made her crazy. We got a different medicine at our re-check earlier this week, which was supposed to curb that problem, but when she slept a grand total of four hours that night, and screamed bloody murder the rest of the night, I literally pulled the plug on the nebulizer treatments all together. They did the trick when we needed them most, now what the poor girl needs is some sleep. And her mamma does too.

Since then she's feeling much better and is back to sleeping like an angel. Her mamma? Not so much. When my baby girl is sick I can't help but snuggle the croup out of her. (I'm on a roll here with the croup/crap puns- should I see how many more I can come up with? Okay, maybe not.) I got in lots of snuggle time, but I also caught that nasty virus and it's taking my immune system for a ride. Heartburn is no longer the only reason to prop myself up at night to sleep. Let's hope this croup gets out of our systems, out of our house and out of our lives for good soon. That croup is crap!