Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Aly's illness worsens

Last Saturday night/Sunday morning Aly came down with a case of croup. It was mild at first and only affected her a little bit at night. However last night was down right scary! She woke up shortly after 3 a.m. in a panic because she couldn't breathe. First things first, I had to calm her down! My next step was to take her outside for some cold air. This has been a suggestion to help with the swelling of the throat. I also checked the humidifier and it wasn't working well enough. However, there was nothing I could do to fix that.

We decided that Aly and I would go sleep together downstairs in Grandma's bed. This is a nice double bed, much better than me sleeping in a twin with her. We gave it a new nickname, the sick bed.

The night was rough. I got her some ice water and a cough drop. The cough drop to help moisten her throat and the ice water I was hoping would take some of the swelling down. She was still fearful at times. I calmed her down and showed her how if she breathed through her nose it was a little better.

The rest of the night was hard. She slept for 15 minutes, then woke for 15 minutes and continued this on until 8 in the morning when we all finally awoke. I took her to the doctors. Her Dr. gave her an inhaler that we are to use twice today. If she has another bad night we are to use it twice tomorrow. She also gave me some more tips. Try to send her to bed with her throat highly moistened. She recommends having her stand in the shower for twenty minutes. Well, I doubt I can get her to do it that long but any amount of time should help.

Hopefully she will have a better night and start to feel better. Yes, she had to miss school---oh they must be so mad! Hee, hee, j/k.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Next time try filling the bathroom with steam,letting her take deep breathes or a towel over her head and the basin. filling the basin with hot water . the towel will keep the steam near her nose. have here breathe through her mouthe too. theis is till she loosens the mususn the lungs

Anonymous said...

Grandma

Anonymous said...

OMG that is scary. Grandma left a good tip. Also, if you have a humidifier have it running all day and night in the sick room. Prop her head up with an extra pillow, make sure she has plenty of liquids, etc. I grew up with asthma and moving up here to the "woods" was very difficult on my breathing. Good luck and I hope Aly feels better soon!

Momma to LG said...

We do the shower thing too. Have dad take a shower and you sit in there with her and suck in the steam. The have her take her own shower. Croup really is so scary! Good luck

Busymama Kellie said...

How scary for all of you! Poor thing, it must be terrifying not to be able to breathe. Our friend's son gets it bad and has to take steroids at the first sign of it.