Sick and tired little guy

Over the weekend we had a visit to the ER. We are averaging about 1 per year with this little man. This time it was for his croup. It all started one evening after dinner. He was coughing pretty bad and it sounded like the typical croup-like cough. We took him into the bathroom and turned on the shower to steam up the room. It seemed to help a little.

A couple hours went by and same thing happened. His cough was getting worse, Xavier was getting more upset, and we tried the steam again. This time it wasn't calming him or his coughing down. It got to the point that he couldn't breath very well. For any of you who have had kids with croup you're aware that it usually isn't at its worst until the middle of the night. Which is so stressful to any parent. In Xavier's case it was only 9 or 10 at night. We knew if we didn't take him to the ER then we'd end up there later on in the night.

Off we went. They got us into the Pediatric ER right away and took care of Xavier. Once we were able to calm him down they gave him a breathing treatment. He fell asleep as we were administering this. Then we had to wake him up to get x-rays. He was such a trooper. Lastly they gave him a steroid to decrease the inflammation in his throat so that he could breath easier. After 3 hours of observation and treatment we were able to go home.

The first couple days were rough. Xavier's been living off of liquids and popsicles and refuses any real food. But he's finally doing much better. I'm so grateful for priesthood blessings and the wonderful nurses and doctors that took such good care of my little guy.

Note about the picture: Despite it being the dead of winter and Xavier being ill he still manages to strip his clothes off when he sleeps. It reminds me of my brother. He used to keep his bedroom window open in the dead of winter. Silly boys.