Ryleigh's 1st ER Visit

This past week was rough. We got back from the beach on Tuesday and Emma was still sick. She had a cough, runny nose, and a double ear infection. On Thursday morning, both Emma and Ryleigh had fevers, so we headed to the doctor. Emma was ok. The doctor said that on top of the ear infections, she had a cold, but we were doing everything we could for her. She still will not really eat too much and she has been sleeping a lot. Twice this week, she slept until around 9:00 am. She seems to be feeling better every day, so hopefully she will be back to normal soon. Last Tuesday night I noticed Ryleigh had been coughing more than usual. I didn't really think too much of it though. But when we were at the doctor Thursday, she coughed after she got done eating and the doctor was not happy with the way she sounded. She said it sounded like croup and thought that Ryleigh might need steroids. Croup is not very common in babies as young as Ryleigh so she decided to wait and told me to keep a close eye on her the next day or two. Friday morning she had one of her coughing fits. It sounds like a loud barking cough. It lasted for about a minute and then afterwards she quit breathing for about 10-15 seconds. I immediately called the doctor and she said to head straight to the emergency room. Josh was in Charlotte working, but my mom met me there and Josh made it back in about an hour and 15 min. They drew lab work and also sent a culture off to be tested. Ryleigh also got her very first chest x-ray. The doctor said her lab work looked good and chest x-ray was fine. They gave her a prescription for Pertussis which is also known as "whooping cough". The culture that was sent off to be tested will tell us for sure if that is what she has, but the doctor seemed pretty sure that she does have it. After doing a little research, I believe that she has croup. She has had 3 doses of medicine so far and her cough is still the same....sometimes worse. There have a been a few times since we left the hospital that she has stopped breathing after coughing and it absolutely scares me to death. Every time she coughs, even if it's just a little, I stop and check her immediately. I think tomorrow I might call the doctor back, especially if she isn't any better. So anyway, this is what our week was like. I am so tired. On top of all this, Josh has horrible allergies and has felt awful. I just hope this week is better and everyone starts feeling better soon.