I was awakened this morning by the sound of someone crying and coughing. I tapped Ted on the leg to wake him, and he got out of bed to investigate. But, after a few minutes it was clear that this wasn't going to be a quick pat them on the back and tuck them back in trip upstairs. I rolled over and got out of bed. A quick squint in the direction of the clock told me it was 4:12. It was Mattie crying, and his cold had turned into croup. Ted was upstairs looking for the nebulizer. I quickly turned on the hot shower and motioned for Ted and Mattie to go in there. I grabbed some Benadryl and gave it to Mattie. I set the nebulizer up for them upstairs, and crawled back into bed. Luckily, Ted handles almost all of the nighttime disturbances, at least while I am either pregnant or nursing a new baby (which, honestly, has been most of the last 8 years, right?) So, back in bed, I closed my eyes and was able to fall back to sleep quickly. Ted spent an hour or so upstairs with Mattie trying to get his cough quieted enough for him to go back to sleep.
My next wake up call came in the form of fussing and grunting. This time it was Theo, and it was 6:30. Ted was back in bed asleep. I picked Theo up out of his beautiful little nest, and got back in bed to nurse him. A short while later, I returned him to his bed, and decided that, although I really should be getting up, I would lie back down for just a few more minutes. I dozed off again, and the next thing I knew, it was 7:20. (Which happens to be very late when you are supposed to head out the door for camp at 8:10.) Having been up for a while during the night, Mattie didn't get up until around 8:30. Jack told us he didn't feel well, and his cough was bothering him, so we kept him home from camp today as well.
Ted and I both come from allergic families. We also both have allergies ourselves. So, we're no strangers to asthma, or the croupy cough that asthmatic children so often get with colds. But, our familiarity with it doesn't make it any easier to watch. Mattie spent the day today alternating between lying down with his "Tita", having coughing fits, and sneezing huge piles of "mocos" out. (Except for the trip to the mall I dragged him on, in the pouring rain no less, while everyone gave me dirty looks and took a few step back each time he coughed.) He got Albuterol nebulizer treatments every 4 hours, and a total of 220 mg of Flovent during the day. We went through this with Jack for about 2-3 years when he was a toddler, but, luckily, he seems to have outgrown it. They called Jack's scenario "reactive airway", because he only ever had flair up as a reaction to a respiratory infection. Mattie seems to have that croupy cough every day, unless he takes his Flovent. A low daily dose keeps it away, for the most part. So, we believe that Mattie has true asthma, as opposed to just reactive airway. But,ultimately, only time will tell.
Before I had kids, I thought of parenting as a full time job, but I was completely unaware of what the reality of being on call 24-7-365 could possible feel like. And, as I graduate from being a parent of one to a parent of two, three, and four, the number of times those "on-call" hours turn into "I've-gotta-go-to-work" hours keeps increasing as well. I readily confess that the hours when the kids are in bed are my favorite hours of the day. Honestly, I spend most of those hours asleep. After all, I only get about 9 hours between the time the last bedroom door closes and the time the first feet climb out of bed. (And even less if you count the time they're actually asleep, not just in bed.) But, for the hour or two in the evening when I'm awake and they're asleep, I savor every minute! I even find myself staying up late (even when I'm utterly exhausted,) just because I crave more of those quiet hours.
Right now is one of those time. Mattie is up in bed asleep. (Still suffering through coughs that sound like a seal's bark every few minutes, but asleep nonetheless.) Jack is in his bed. Theo and Elliot are sleeping quietly in our room. (We'll move Elliot back up to his room shortly, once we're sure both he and Jack are asleep. We move the boys around sometimes to let them fall asleep more quickly, and therefore get a better night sleep.) In a few minutes, I'll crawl into bed. And hopefully, no one will need me all night long.
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