Back from Staycation and the Croup

By "staycation" I mean my vacation from the computer.

I knew it had been a while since I posted but I hadn't realize it'd been that long until my Aunt Sheila called to check on me due to my blogging absence.

Aunt Sheila holding Dax back in May

From Brett & Mindy's Wedding

We've all been doing well, just a bit busy. Since my headaches have gotten better, Dax and I have been taking care of a couple of house projects (painting and etc.) I worked, Dax watched and laughed. ;)

I actually managed to get the whole bathroom painted without any paint getting on me or Dax except for a "black" hand print after he touched the newly painted vanity and then the newly painted "white" lower wall. That is, however, until Daddy got home from work and was watching him while I was cleaning up. I forgot to close the "prison" gates that contains Dax to our living room and little booger managed to slip into the bathroom while I was in the kitchen and Clint was consumed by the AU replay game against West Virginia (GREAT game BTW).

It was a moment where Clint thought Dax was w/ me (since the gate was open) and I thought Dax was with him (since I didn't realize I left it open). Happens to every one at least once or that's what I'm telling myself anyway. When we realized he was with neither one of us I ran into the last place he needed to be which was the bathroom with open paint cans. Of course he'd made a beeline straight to the paint, stuck his hand in it and had slung it everywhere. At least it was easy access to the bathtub which is where he went immediately. ha ha.


Picture of the "prison" gates and a lovely couple, Jason and Jennifer

From Dax's 1st Birthday

It was a chaotic team effort to get him, the floors and the walls clean before the paint had a chance to dry. Needless to say, there are no pictures of the Daxtastrophe. I wish there were though, y'all would be sure to get a kick out of them.

Above I said we were doing well.  That was up until yesterday, as most of you know.  Here's the update.  For those of you that don't know what I'm talking about I'll catch you up: Tuesday night Dax started having a bit of a watery cough off and on, and then he got hot. I checked his temperature and it was 102.5. First time his fever has been over 100-101. I called the pediatrician's 24 hour nurse on call and she told me how much Tylenol to give him.

I checked on him off and on throughout the night.  The last time being around 3:00 am and he seemed fine. At 6 am he woke up screaming and making one of the worst noises you never want to hear coming from your child. It sounded identical and just as loud as a seal bark. What was worse is that noise was scaring him and making him scream even worse making the noise even worse. Even worse than that was the fact that he was burning up. So I hastily took his temp and literally was having to hold back the tears as I saw the reading on the thermometer go higher and higher! Up to 105.

I didn't bother to call the nurse then. I administered Tylenol, Clint and I threw on our clothes and snatched up the diaper bag and went straight to the ER. Though I figured it was probably the croup, I wasn't about to wait long enough to assess that was it for sure.

We got to the ER and within minutes of the attendant hearing the noise herself she verified it was the croup. They got us back - Dax very upset the whole time. They gave him steroids and checked his breathing to make sure he didn't need a breathing treatment of Epinephrine. A blessing that he didn't. His fever came down and they sent us home with instructions to alternate him between Tylenol and Motrin as long as he was running a high fever. We got out of there not a minute too soon; Clint was able to get him to calm down by throwing his 2nd favorite toy (besides George) Mr. Kermit up in the air and hitting the ceiling (but it didn't last long, the docs and nurses were scaring him).

Remember George

From george

Throughout the morning, Dax slowly got better while he camped out in my lap or with his head on Mama's shoulder. He started eating pretty good, but not drinking as much as we'd like (but enough). He even started laughing and playing like his normal self by early evening. As the evening went on he started to worsen again. I got him down at midnight (when I started posting here - I drank a huge cup of coffee so as to be alert in order to check on him or if he woke up and needed me).

He woke about about 30 minutes ago crying. Though he felt cool and was sure not to have a temperature, I just got a strange feeling that I needed to check his temp (strange, huh?) well... glad I did. His temp was 96.0 even. We all know what temp is too high and need for concern but I wasn't sure about how low was too low. So again I call the nurse.

She tells me that if the temperature is below 96.5 they would tell me to take him back to the ER. She told me bundle him up and check it again. I had not put him down and was holding him the whole time I was calling the nurse so that was sure to have been what brought his temp back up to 96.7. Which brings to me to the here and now. I bundled him up and he is now back to sleep on 4 feather down comforters folded on top of each other into a palate beside me. I figured the feathers will keep him warm and I'm not letting him out of my sight until he's all better - that and I want to make sure he doesn't swing the other way again and get too warm. The nurse told me to check his temp every hour for the next 2.

Goodness, this seems like a lot of drama, but Dax will be fine.  This is small potatoes compared to what other parents I know have had to go through. I'm not going to get a wink tonight because I'll be checking on him constantly. I just hope he's able to get adequate rest  despite me having to wake him to take his temp.  He's going to need it in order to get better.