Croup

We have had a rough night, we, being me and my kids are exhausted. Last night at 1.30am Miss T woke with a coughing fit brought on by croup (though I wasn't sure at the time that it was croup). She was really distressed and panicking because she couldn't breathe. Jon was away and despite my first aid training, I really didn't know what to do,  I was very close to calling an ambulance, instead I put a call in to Jon in Melbourne.

My kids have never had croup before and as Miss T has asthma as well I was really scared and not able to make a rational decision as to what to do.

I gave her panadol for her fever and ventolin in the hope that it would help her breathing. An hour later she still couldn't breathe properly so I got the other kids up and we headed to the emergency department. (I couldn't even call my mum because she was on a plane to come and see us.)

By the time we got to the hospital, she had calmed and her breathing was much easier. The hospital still wanted her to stay for 3 more hours for observation.

We got back home at 7am this morning and I called Jon to let him know. I hadn't called him to tell him we were at hospital because she was ok and we didn't all need to be sleep deprived.

My son managed to curl himself up into the tiniest ball on a chair and get 20 minutes of sleep before I had to wake him to go home.

We had some breakfast and all went back to bed. Miss T struggled a few times, waking me up with a terrified look on her face saying she couldn't breathe, but this time I felt more in control and calmed her and gave her more ventolin.

I feel for those who are single parents and have to deal with situations like these on their own all the time. I am so looking forward to Jon getting home tonight and my mum arriving in the morning. I'm not sure I'm looking forward to the 6am pickup though! I need some sleep.