This isn’t one of those blog post where I’m looking for some kind of sympathy or an answer or anything… not that I usually do that anyway… but about two nights ago Steph and I got woken up by what sounded like a barking seal followed by an absurd amount of screaming. So either someone from Maritime Aquarium Center was up in the spare bedroom training for a new seal circus show or something was definitely wrong with Jackson.
It’s a little scary when you can’t get your little one to calm down knowing that the more excited he gets… the more worked up he gets… the worse he sounds. I get the whole ignore him when he’s crying in his crib for a little bit and let him put himself to sleep but this was definitely different. There was something that wasn’t right. I’ve never heard a cough like this before in my life. I know I’ve heard of different types of coughs such is the “whopping cough”… but all I remember about that is people dying from it on the Oregon Trail computer game. I also remember hearing something about “croup”… which definitely sounds more like a southern HipHop dance style that a cough.
So of course with me not being able to calm him down mommy comes into the room in a panic and all of a sudden everything that we’ve learned or dealt with over the past 10 months flies out the window. It’s like we completely forgot to be parents. So of course we take the contacting the mommy and daddy Facebook friends to get some advice. We also turned the 24 hour advice nurse at our pediatrician.
Doesn’t matter who or where it came from… It was the same result… steam up the bathroom and sit in there with them for 20 minutes. Which doesn’t seem like a big deal or a lot of work until you realize that the shower head is being replaced in my bathroom. And I had just finished regrouting Stephanie’s bathroom shower tile.
The decision was made and a second regrout and will be necessary. So there we are two grown adults and a 10-month-old sitting inside of the sauna. I mean literally got to the point where sweat was dripping off of my face and I wound up having to take off my shirt and socks. Time felt like it was moving in slow-motion. I think we need made it to 18 minutes before Steph and I were about to pass out. Jax came out of the steam room with a bright red face, disheveled hair and the same sounding cough!
Fast forward five hours through intermittent coughing, a panicky mom and two restless dogs and you have the rest of my night! In the morning the doctor confirmed that Jax has “croup.” Really? Wow… total surprise!
We now have a ten month old on Prednisone… Prednisone… STEROIDS! Kid will be playing third base for the Yankees and a home run champion in no time!
I swear Mr. Selig, I didn’t know they were steroids. Someone gave them to me; thought they were dietary supplements!
This blog entry has been featured on Honustmum.com as a Brilliant Blog Post.
Sorry Sons: Chronicles of a New Dad 