You Can't Spell "Riley" Without "E" "R"

When I went to bed last Friday night little did I know that we would have our first ER visit only a few hours later. Here is the story of last Saturday (2/19):

4:30am - Ben wakes up to Izzy letting out some small barks and he initially thinks she is having a bad dream. He gets up to go to the bathroom and then hears a whimpering coming from Riley's room. He walks in and she is wheezing and having trouble breathing. He wakes me up and we commence worrying! Side note: we do believe that Izzy heard Riley and woke us up! She is incredible!!

4:35am - I call the pediatrician on-call nurse and am throwing on clothes at the same time. The nurse hears Riley's extremely labored breathing and tells us to immediately go to the emergency room. I then also begin to have labored breathing (from tears). The nurse tells me that I need to take deep breaths before she will tell us which ER to go to!! I did start breathing again and she says she will call ahead to Medical City to let them know what the situation is.

4:50am - Why is it that you drive past a hospital a hundred times and yet never pay attention to where the emergency room is? Of course, Ben and I had to have a discussion about the quickest way to get to the hospital (but we were already driving about 80 at this point). We walk in and my tears start again. Side note: it is only then that I realize that Riley is wearing Halloween pajamas!

5:15am - Riley gets a breathing treatment with albuterol (to help with the wheezing). This doesn't help at all.

6:00am - Riley gets diagnosed with croup and gets an epinephrine breathing treatment. This works for about 20 minutes and then she has trouble breathing again. She feels so bad that when she gets her IV put in her, she doesn't even cry.

Here is our pitiful little patient!

After 5 breathing treatments, Riley started to respond and her breathing improved. By this point, we were up in the pediatrics wing, Riley had an IV, and we were told we had to spend the night. She had to go 12 hours without any breathing treatments. I stayed in the hospital that night (only one bed) and it was brutal. I only got one hour of uninterrupted sleep! Between keeping Riley from chewing on her IV, constant nurse blood pressure and temp checks, and getting less than half of the hospital bed (we slept on the bed together), it was a rough night!

Here is Riley sitting up in her hospital bed just like a real patient!

We were discharged around noon the next day! I always thought croup was about a hacking cough! She didn't have that at all (or at least then). Apparently croup is a cold virus that inflames the narrowest part of the airway (which in babies is super small) and can make it hard to breathe.

You might ask why I am just now blogging about this?? That's because I am just now recovering from all the emotional and physical energy of sleepless nights and a fussy baby! 7 days later, she is on the mend but still has the snots!

We have so much to be thankful for: that Izzy woke us up to let us know Riley was in trouble, that we live close to hospitals, that Riley is now getting over croup!