What a Croupy 1st Birthday!!

So yesterday June 7th was Justin's 1st birthday and since it fell on a weekend we had his birthday party on Saturday. The past few weeks leading up to his birthday have been nothing but sickness for everyone. The boys have all been sick and with Jen's lack of immune system she inevitably became sick as well. Everyone was just at the doctor on FRIDAY!!!!!!! Justin was checked and everything was okay. Anyways as far as Jen and I can remember Justin was acting normal all morning and up to his afternoon nap. After his nap he woke up with a nasty cough and as the day progressed it only became worse. By the early evening I felt like our house was turned into Sea World with his cough sounding like a seal bark. Jen's motherly instinct told her to take him to the local urgent care to get him checked out. As soon as the doctor heard him and saw that he was having difficulty breathing (the main concern) he told Jen to get Justin to Children's Hospital downtown. Now all our boys have something in common other than having the same parents, they have all been to Children's for their own medical conditions by the time the reached the age of 1. Something to be proud of.

We got to the ER at Children's and did the usual paperwork. When they took us back they gave Justin his first breathing treatment with little affect on his swelling. After awhile they came back and took him down for x-rays of his chest and neck to make sure he didn't inhale something other than air and also to verify their suspicions that he has croup. Apparently the swelling of the throat when someone has croup is distinct only to that virus. After the x-rays Justin was given an oral steroid and then another breathing treatment. By the way it was like he became Linda Blair in the exorcist when getting his breathing treatments and x-rays. You wouldn't think a little 1 year old could be so strong. His head might have actually spun around too but that could have just been delusions from lack of sleep. This was all going on at the hospital between 12-3. After 3 Jen and Justin laid down on the bed and went to sleep for awhile until they admitted him. All three of us spent the night in the hospital. Of course Justin got the best bed even though it looks like a gorilla cage. Our bed was like sleeping on a sheet of plywood. Awesome!! In the morning the doctor checked him out and said he sounded good and was sent home shortly after lunch.

Below is a picture recap of our stay at the hospital.