Saturday, March 20, 2010

Croup

1. a viral infection of the vocal cords, voice box, and trachea
2. an ugly invader of my poor 14 month old's body right now!

Gage has had a blessed 14, almost 15 months of healthiness thus far. No ear infections, temperatures, vomiting, or any other flu or virus. Now, I have taken precautions to keep him healthy, but I wouldn't say even as much as other moms out there...I let him play in the mall play area, sit in grocery carts and restaurant highchairs, play in the church nursery, etc. So I was beginning to think that my son has an amazing immune system!

Well, I think he does have an amazing immune system, but it can't hold up to all those nasty germs out there forever, so his time has come to endure an illness. And my time has come to toughen up!

I knew my biggest struggle as a mother would be my overactive compassion. Ever heard of such a thing? Well I have it. For example, when we were little and my sister got hurt or sick, I would cry too. When I have watched Craig get hurt playing basketball I have been sick (not literally) with worry and pain for him! So I knew that having children would mean enduring lots of my own pain, because kids, especially boys, get hurt.

And so it begins...my Gager started coughing on Thursday afternoon. By Thursday night he had a fever of 101. Oh my heart was hurting! On Saturday morning I took him to the pediatrician (thank goodness they're open on Saturdays!) after finding he was much worse at 5:30am. We found out he has croup, a cold with laryngitis in adults, a more serious condition in babies...especially 3 month olds, so we are praying that Eli stays healthy! If he does I can say he has an amazing immune system too because how in the world do we keep Gager and his germs away in the same household?!

It is so hard to see your child so miserable and not be able to do a thing about it but give lots of love. I miss my joyful, exhuberant babe, and can't wait to have him back! In the meantime I will be giving lots of love, and working on not falling apart myself when the inevitable happens...

1 comment:

Finding Joy said...

Heidi, we've endured several rounds of croup (divided among the 3 boys of course!). Thankfully Zoe has never gotten it! It does sound awful, poor baby, but they really do bounce back so quickly from it. So thankful he's made it this far without being sick! WOW! Good job, Mom!!