Croup

We went to Phoenix this weekend for some shopping and also so Jared could get some more tatoo added to his arm (Crazy boy)! Well it was a fun time until the end. Here's a little sum up. We left late Thursday night so Kade could sleep because as we all know traveling with kids can sometimes be the pits. Friday was great, I shopped till I dropped (6 Hrs to be exact) and Kade behaved great, I was so proud of my baby. I got about 80% of my Christmas shopping done, which is such a relief. I was on a mission man! Saturday was pretty good, we started out at the zoo and then headed to the tatoo place to drop Jared off. Earlier in the day I noticed Kade was very tired, but figured it was just from the trip until I noticed my little man had fever towards the evening, I thought "OHHH great here we go again". I gave him some Tylenol and Mortin (Not at the same time) and that took care of that, but as we went back to our hotel after eating at Olive Garden (MMMM) Kade started breathing weird and had a weird cough. It was very scary! Long story short.... We decided to take him to urgent care on Sunday before heading back home, the Dr. there did 2 breathing treatments and said he wasn't getting any better so we better go to the hospital. We took him to the hospital, best care ever given by Dr. Jayson Luma and all the amazing nurses there (Note to self...Send thank you card to Desert hills hospital) and right away they told me my child had croup :( so they gave him another breathing treatment, and oral steroids to be taken for 5 days, monitored us for 2 hours and we were on our way home. My poor little guy, it was so scary, I thought for sure he had Swine (that is also what the first Dr. told us it might have been). I was told that Croup is going around town so watch your babies closely. Here is a few quick reference points:

Croup, also called laryngotracheobronchitis, most commonly affects children between the ages of six months and three years, usually during the late fall, winter and early spring. Symptoms, which often include a runny nose and a brassy cough, develop about 2-6 days after being exposed to someone with croup.

One of the distinctive characteristics of croup is the abrupt or sudden onset of symptoms. Children will usually be well when they went to bed, and will then wake up in the middle of the night with a croupy cough and trouble breathing. The cough that children with croup have is also distinctive. Unlike other viral respiratory illnesses, which can cause a dry, wet, or deep cough, croup causes a cough that sounds like a Barking Seal.

Another common sign or symptom of croup is inspiratory stridor, which is a loud, high-pitched, harsh noise that children with croup often have when they are breathing in. Stridor is often confused with wheezing, but unlike wheezing, which is usually caused by inflammation in the lungs, stridor is caused by inflammation in the larger airways.

What a weekend! Not only did it SUCK that Kade was sick, he was sick away from home. I was very pleased with the hospital though, they were the best!

Here are a few photos of the Zoo (taken by my Blackberry)


This Turtle weighed 630 lbs. I shouted "That Turtle weighs as much as an Elephant", Jared was so embarrassed. I don't know how much a darn Elephant weighs, do you? Apparently it's more than 630 lbs.

This Monkey was so hilarious. He would poop in his hand (I assume it was a male, I can't think of any girl doing that), look at it and throw it. The funniest thing we have seen in a long time.