Oh my goodness! Our poor baby girl.
On Thursday night I was just crawling into bed when I heard it.
The all too familiar sound coming from my daughter’s room. That gasping sound which gets me running as fast as I possibly can across the hallway.
From out of nowhere, Harper got croup. No cold, no sniffy nose, no warning signs. Again! Unfortunately, she doesn’t just get the slight raspy, wheezing sounds. No, she literally cannot breathe. She struggles for every breath. Steamy showers and cold air do absolutely nothing to help her. She spirals downwards super fast and we have to take action in a hurry.
It is downright scary!
Off to the ER we sped (my hubby calls me a granny driver–but watch me go when there’s a crisis!). Thank goodness the hospital is just five minutes from our home, or I would have called 911. She was doing that poorly.
We have been through this before, and it is AWFUL! Listening to your child gasping for air in the back seat is terrifying. I ran into the ER and they immediately sprung into action and put the mask on her face. One look at Harper and they knew she was not doing well. Poor lovie. She lay in my arms breathing in the gas, waiting for the airways to clear. Broke my heart!
Gosh, there is really not much worse than seeing our children struggle. For Harper, it seems that she is just prone to severe croup. We already know that she has very low muscle tone (common in Down syndrome). Sadly for her, the muscle tone in her neck is extremely low which makes things so much worse when the croup hits. They say that as she grows and gains strength she will [hopefully] have these episodes less and less. We’re praying they’re right.
Within an hour she was doing better and we hung out in the ER for a few hours. They wanted to monitor her and make sure she didn’t relapse.
Sweet little darling.
None of my kids have ever struggled with croup. I never even knew what it was until the first time we ended up in the ER with Harper last winter. It is a horrible thing. I feel for every parent who has a child who struggles with it.
Thankfully, she is doing so much better.
