Baby Sign Number Five AKA Croup Strikes Again

We skipped Sign Class Number Five.  I was bummed because it was animal signs. Oh well, we'll figure out what we missed when we go to the next one (last one!).

Baby ended up getting croup again.  I thought it was supposed to be a once a season kind of thing, but apparently not for my baby.

Wednesday night Baby woke up in the middle of the night.  Husband went and got her and brought her to me saying, "She sounds funny."

I rolled over and said, "She's fine.  Go to bed."

Husband replied, "Are you sure?" 

Me, "Uh huh."

Then I heard her and my heart skipped a beat.  She was making that croup sound again.  The one where her chest is all tight when she breathes.

Husband made a few phone calls so that he would be able to stay home with her on Thursday and I would take Friday if need be.

We propped her up, turned the humidifier on high, and waited out the night.

The next day I went to work an Husband stayed home with her.  She coughed a lot, threw up a few times, had tons of snot, refused to eat, and was terribly cranky.  Husband called the doctor and the doctor said it sounded like croup again.  Plus, babies who tend to get it more than once have a higher tendency to be diagnosed with asthma.  Great.

Friday was my holiday, so I stayed home with Baby and Husband went to work.  Thursday night was rough, so Baby and I were both tired and cranky.  I did have family come visit on Friday, so that was nice.  Unfortunately,Husband got upset at this and said Baby shouldn't see anyone when she is sick.  I disagree.  Don't you want people to stop by when you aren't feeling well?  What about patients in a hospital?  Besides, they were more to keep my company than to play with her.

Saturday Baby woke up with a weird rash on her.  She had a giant red patch across the top of her chest, then a bunch of smaller patches going down to her belly button.  Like hives, kinda.  On her arms and legs were little red circles.  I was worried, so I called the doctor and made an appointment.

My first thought was chicken pox or measles.  Aren't those the ones that have little red spots?    I had Husband Google it while I  called for an appointment. 

A doctor called us back a while later and listened to her symptoms over the phone.  He said it sounded like a typical virus.  Some babies get rashes after having a fever (Did I mention she'd had a fever since Thursday?) and it's the body's way of pushing it out.  It also happens more on body parts that are warm (so there was more of a rash on her chest where she'd been wearing her onesie).  If it seemed to bother her then we could give her some Benadryl.  He didn't think she needed to be seen, but we should call back if she got worse.

I was relieved she didn't have the measles, but it was a really weird rash.  I changed her into a loose fitting shirt and shorts and the rash was pretty much gone by the next day.  However, she was still coughing and snotting, so we called Baby Sign to let them know we wouldn't make it.

I also had Baby's one year pics scheduled for Sunday and had to cancel those.  I was really bummed about that because it was perfect weather for outdoor pictures and I knew just which dress she was going to wear.  Hopefully when we reschedule the weather will be just as nice.

Monday I stayed home with Baby.  For the first time in a few days she did not have a fever when she woke up.  However, she did wake up and throw up all over everything, including her hair.  Yuck.  I took her in the shower with me to try to clean her off.  She didn't really care for that, so I tried to be quick.  She still smelled a little, though.

Tuesday she went back to daycare, despite the runny nose and cough.  I felt really guilty about leaving her.  She even cried when I dropped her off.  M was really surprised by that.  She never cries when she gets dropped off.  Usually she is excited to go play and will wave bye-bye to us.  I spent a few minutes reassuring her, then took off for work (where I was a fifteen minutes late for a meeting-oops).

Wednesday she had an awful rash again.  It was all over her armpits, and down her chest and legs.  I called the doctor again and had a phone appointment.  This was our third time talking to the doctor in a week!  The doctor said it was only something to worry about if she seemed really uncomfortable (she didn't), or if she was having a hard time breathing (nope), otherwise it would go away on its own.

I spent the next few days making sure she wouldn't get overheated and get the rash again.  Meanwhile, we still have snot (like TONS) and coughing.