my annual croup blog post

I awoke at 4 am today, my toddler son (Little Guy, shown finger painting in yesterday's photo) was barking like a seal with the classic cough of Croup.

I ran into the bathroom and got the shower going with the hottest water I could. I got the bathroom all steamy. Then I went to get Little Guy and I held him on my lap in the steam for about 15 minutes. That has seemed to help. He would not stop hugging his large, stuffed Winnie the Pooh bear for anything in the world. I know stuffed animals aren't the best thing for kids with croup to be hugging (allergies, etc) but I think the psychological benefits of Pooh outweigh any harm the stuffed animal could do.

I took his older brother (age 4) to pediatric emergency care the other night, because his Croup seemed very severe and it scared me. The American Academy of Pediatrics book (we've nicknamed it Momma's Big Book of Worries) says that kids usually outgrow Croup by age 3.
The pediatric doctor said oh no - they can get it to age five.

Well, thank goodness for insurance. That's an expensive nighttime visit to the doctor just to find out there's nothing to be done about it other than treat it like a cold, encourage drinking a lot of fluids, use a cool-mist humidifier in the child's room, and the steamy bathroom treatment. All the stuff I was already doing. I know when the co-payment bill arrives in the mail, I'll open it and say to myself, "here's my bill for being stupid!"

So that's why I'm up at 5:30 am blogging.