First Illness =(

We got back from Strawberry on Feb 21st, and Aaden was a little fussy on the way home but nothing too terrible.  Well he woke up that night at 1am with a barking cough.  I knew right away it was croup.  I know that it has a sudden onset, usually in the middle of the night and it has that horrible sound.  Right away I went into the bathroom with him and turned the shower on as hot as it could go.  I took his temperature (no fever) and paged his doctor.  His doctor called back within 5 minutes.  He reassured us that we were doing everything right.  He suggested cool mist and tylenol or motrin to help relieve pain.  He told us if he shows any sign of having trouble breathing then to take him to the ER otherwise, he wanted to see him first thing in the morning.

It took a few hours to get Aaden back to sleep that night.  I would hold him/swing him in the bathroom with the steam and he would fall asleep but as soon as I would put him in his bassinet he would wake up or he would cough and wake himself up.  After a few times of repeating that, I decided to nurse him and he finally went down for a few hours.  We kept the coll mist humidifier on right over his bassinet. 

Aaron took Aaden to the doctor in the morning.  They started him on Zithromax (antibiotic) and Orapred (steroid).  The steroids make Aaden fussy and they increased his appetite.  They also make him wake up in the middle of the night crying =(  He seems to be getting a little better though.

On the 24th we took him back to the doctor for a follow up.  The doctor prescribed some Prilosec for him to help reduce his spitting up because he's afraid he could aspirate.  The Prilosec was $134!  We didn't pick it up.  The next day I called and asked if they could prescribe Zantac.  They did and it was $17, much better!  Unfortunately Aaden doesn't like it all that much.  It tastes like peppermint and it makes him cough and gag everytime we give it to him.  But I think it's helping a little.

On the 28th we took him back again.  He still has some congestion in his chest and the doctor is a little worried about it.  He finished his antibiotics today and is slowly stepping down the steroids.  Since the congestion hasn't cleared up, he prescribed a nebulizer for Aaden with some inhalation steroids.  Another expensive medication - $166!  Man, Big Pharm makes a killing on infants medicines.  After two days of the nebulizer he seems to be doing better and is sounding better too.  Aaden does really good on the nebulizer.  I just hope this clears up otherwise his doctor wants to get a chest xray.

I know he looks extremely pathetic in these pictures but in reality he doesn't seem to mind the nebulizer