First ER Trip

Back on January 20th, we had quite a scare. Our night started off as normal, but at about 12:15am, Noah woke up gasping for breath. He had another loose tooth and I thought that maybe it had fallen out and he was choking on it. After looking in his mouth, I discovered that the tooth was still in place, he just could not breathe. Noah was starting to turn blue, so I woke Joe and we put Noah in a steamy bathroom, which helped him get enough breath in so that the blue coloring started to fade. Needless to say, I was freaked out. Noah was fine when he went to sleep and he had NEVER had any breathing problems before. Even though he was breathing better at that point, I knew there was no way I was getting any sleep that night wondering if it would happen again, so we loaded up in the car and headed to the hospital. While on our way to the hospital it happened again. We pulled over at the manned EMS station at Bells and I beat on the door until the paramedics woke up and let us in. By the time they had come to the door, Noah was once again breathing much better, (turns out the cold night air allowed him to get his breath) but the paramedics said they could hear a "croupy" sound in his chest and that he needed to go on to the hospital.
When we got to the hospital at 1:00am, they took him right back and the Doctor diagnosed him with croup. Croup is a virus that causes inflamation in the bronchial tubes just below the vocal chords. Anyone can get this virus, but it effects children much worse than adults because thier breathing passages are much smaller and more prone to closing. This is why he seemed to get better every time he was outside in the cold air. Cold air reduces inflamation, therefore allowing air to pass more easily.
Noah got a cool mist nebulizer treatment and then two steriod shots. I'm glad he got the treatment before the shots, because he got so upset by the shots, he had another attack of croup. Thankfully, this was the last one! They also ordered chest x-rays to rule out any other serious problems. Noah thought it was great because they took him over to the x-ray department in a wheelchair. They kept him all night to monitor the oxygen levels in his blood, but about 5:00am, they let us bring him home.
We took Noah to se his regular doctor that afternoon and he prescribed oral steroids for about a week to make sure there were no re-occurances. He also warned us that since it was viral, Jonah would probably get it and it would be worse on him since he was so much smaller. Just what every parent wants to hear! Thankfully, Jonah never showed any signs of getting the virus and I think enough time has passed that we no longer have to worry.
I surely do not ever want a repeat of that night, but I think the fact that Noah was five years old before we had to make our first trip to the emergency room is pretty good. Although I hate to admit it, I have a feeling that with raising what is soon to be three boys, this may have been our first trip to the ER, but it certainly won't be our last!