Scary cough..

Last night, we took a while to get Z down.. Finally he was down!  We went to bed, T watch a TV show and I was reading (The Hungry Games Trilogy.. great books!)  I heard Z make a few noises.. but he fell back to sleep.  I had just finished reading.. and turned off the TV.. Then Z woke up.  At this point I had wished I had slept a little instead of reading.  As I was climbing the stairs to his room, I heard him cough.. but not a normal cough, a seal cough.. then struggle a bit to breath.. I knew it was croup then, but ran up stairs and got him calmed down.  We got our humidifier going in our room and it became swap like very quickly.  This seemed to help.  Neither Z or I slept much at all. He nursed non stop.  If he stopped for some reason, he'd start crying and have a coughing attack.  Then I'd have to get him calmed back down.  I think it scared him when he started crying/coughing.  He kept waking up and throwing himself on me.. It broke my heart.  I hate when he is sick.. I hate when I can't make him better.. and I hated seeing him struggle!
I called the doctor this morning, and found out croup is going around here.  I never know where he gets sick from.  He isn't in day care.  We do some playdates, but I have done much sleep since being so sick over the winter.  Maybe since I started school, I'm bringing more stuff home.  I must remember to wash my hands before holding him when I get back from school.  The nurse said with croup it is hard b/c when they come into the doctor they are pretty much ok, its at night when its bad.  At first I was just going to wait it out, but then he had a coughing spell, so I called her back and asked what she thought.  Better safe than sorry.  I guess if its bad enough they will give him steroids, otherwise its just a virus that we have to wait out..  Oh how I had those words.  Let the virus run its course.. Let my little man be sick until the virus is done.  Well I hate the idea of wasting  doctors visit, but as a first time mom I'm pretty sure that my right.. lol.  Well thats all I have for now.. I'll try to write more when we get back.. unless Z is napping in which case I will also be napping...
Update:
 We went to the doctor.. the nurse came in and got Z''s weight (22.8lbs) then took his temp and it was down 98.2 and then left while we waited for the doc. During that time, Z had a small coughing spell. turned bright red and start sweating like crazy, then only wanted to be held.. and looked like all energy was drained from him.. It broke my heart.. Z was also crying.. which sounds bad right now.. like he can't breath.  The dr was pretty concerned by him turning red.. sweating.. and looking so sleepy, so we took his O2 levels (they were 99 .. so that was good) he wanted his temp taken again and ordered a few test (RSV, and flu) just to make sure he didn't also have those. The nurse came back in and was amazed at how awful Z looked in the short time she was gone (like 5mins) They took his temp 2 more times (both were still normal. 97.9 and 98.1), and rechecked his O2 levels.. then we waited for the test results. They were both neg.. which was good. By this time, Z arms and legs were turning back the normal color and stop sweating his face was still pretty red.. The Dr thinks maybe the coughing spell upset him or just being messed with.. and cause it.. or maybe his fever was breaking, but if that happens again, or his coughing gets worst to come back in right away. He also gave us some steroids to help w/ the croup..

Watching Z go from sick to this awful red sweating little guy was so hard, plus it was hard watching the nurses and dr being worried.... I can't wait for him to be better.. and hope it happens before this birthday!  The meds should start working in 4-6 hours.. so right around bed time.  But we are still going to keep in our room tonight.