Sam is the Walrus
Sorry Mister Lennon and apologies to Oasis, but Sam is the Walrus. Now don’t take this literally. He didn’t sprout tusks and gain five hundred and fifty pounds with a mean penchant for fish. Nah! He hasn’t made any friends in the carpentry business… No! He hasn’t gone all “goo goo g’joob”… Never! Enough references for ya? (I love that song by the way)
It seems our Sam just sounds like a walrus because his previously, seemingly, normal cold with a slight fever has evolved into a case of… Ummm hold on here, checking my spelling… yeah here goes: Laryngotracheobronchitis! 
I said GOD DAMN! It hurt to type that. That is what the doctors called it however, but from now on, to save this blog from any further blasphemy, I’ll just call it the Croup. That’s what the parents call it. 
It’s basically the baby version of Larygi… ah! AH! Finger Cramping!!! Well, you know what I mean, and it causes a babies coughing to sound like a walrus.
Two sick babies cuddled on the couch. We just layed there for a good two hours that night.
And it’s pretty common too. We found out all this fun stuff at the hospital, where we spent the good part of Monday morning after a night of hardly sleeping because Sam’s wheezy breathing was worrying us a little too much. Finally, by 5 AM, his breathing wasn’t getting any better, so we decided to head out for the hospital. I gotta say, Melissa and I work like a well oiled machine cause we packed Sam and his stuff and got dressed and out the door in fifteen minutes flat. We arrived there expecting a long wait, but surprisingly enough, we saw a doctor within twenty minutes and… Hold on… I heard a thump. I think one our Canadian readers just passed out upon hearing the quick emergency room response time we had… Well, anyways, the doc says it’s the Croup and it’s not a dangerous infection, unless it’s not treated and/or gets worse. So, any parents out there who’ve read here or elsewhere online that what your kid has is the Croup, get off your asses and get the little squirt to the hospital anyways. Got it? Good.
Treatment is easy enough: oral injections of cortisone twice daily with food and some good ol’ fresh air. The only downside is that the Croup gets worse at night. Meaning, that when Sam’s breathing gets labored, we had to dress him up, and take him out for a walk… In the middle of the night… In freakin’ February. So, while not sleeping, but laying passively in the sleeping bag on our bedroom floor (I left the bed for Sam and Melissa), I took the little guy out for a midnight stroll around the block. It was weird, it was cold, but it was quiet. Me and me boy… bliss. After the quick ten minute jaunt, Sam’s breathing had returned to an almost normal state, which meant I could get a little worry free sleep. Melissa took the next stroll at 6 AM that same morning.
Getting ambitious, going for the second shelf!
Caught red-handed destroying the "neatness" of our tupperware cupboard!
So check in soon for the continuation of Sammy’s First Birthday Party Extravaganza!
That’s it for now, thanks for reading… And stay healthy!
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Hope Sam is feeling better, when my son had croup, I used to sit in the bathroom with the hot taps running, the steam used to help his breathing
That’s what I did too… initially. Then we read a couple of our baby books, and they say to bring the baby into cold air! The doc at the hospital also said cold air helped more than the warm steam… It was funny cause when he told us, he said something like: “Most people don’t know what they’re doing and they bring their kid into a steamy bathroom with the hot water running…” Melissa and I turned beat red… but said nothing… Pretty embarrassed!
I suppose times change, my son is 27 now so it was a long time ago, things my mom used to do to me when I was ill were a no-no when my son was little. But saying that there are enought old people around to show that some of it must have worked.