Baby D's first real sickness: Croup

So when Baby D was in Korea, he caught the Croups at 5 months old.

At first I thought it was a slight cold, so I did what I usually do, nasal passage way cleansing, sitting in steam while running hot shower, cold mist humidifier...

But symptoms got worse, and this time around he had a terrible terrible cough that sounded like a barking seal. He also lost his voice, so he couldn't even cry out loud. Poor thing just cried and cried and couldn't make a sound. :[

Good thing was that he was still breastfeeding really well.

The first doctor we saw was a resident at a university hospital and she was basically useless, so we went to a specialized pediatrician, and she was the one who diagnosed and treated Baby D the right way.

First off, she was so shocked at Baby D's pain threshold. She said most babies would be hysterical and almost near colicky if they were as sick as he was. She said if we had come any later he might had to have been hospitalized....

Secondly, she said the only way to treat him was to administer antibiotics  and steroid shot for him... at first I was a bit hesitant about giving drugs to Baby D. She saw that I was worried and she said
1. the croups is caused by a virus, and the only way to suppress and kill off the virus is through antibiotics, and
2. Baby D's throat was so inflammed so it was blocking his airway, and so we need to give him the steroid shot to widen it

So he was put on meds, and surprisingly, he took it very well. I squirted the meds in his mouth, waited for him to swallow, and breastfed him right after. He took them for five days, and the doctor still told me to do what I did, keep his nasal passage clean, cold mist humidifier, hot steam...

Poor Baby D, with his jet lag, and also the croups, seemed a bit wilted, but after a week, he was completely fine, and he couldn't have been happier.

My mom and I tried to trace back the source of his sickness, and it turns out one of my mom's lady friends had been sick with a terrible cold. It's my guess that her virus went into D's system and transformed to the croup virus.

It's never easy to see your baby sick, and cry for his dear life, but this too was an experience for both me and Baby D. Now I know what symptoms to look out for if he ever does catch it again (crossing my fingers he won't)

Until the next post,  (about weaning him off breast feeding to formula feeding, which is going on right now :] ) keep us in your prayers!