Ear, Nose and Throat

So remember last week, when the Hatchling had that fever and sore throat? Well, it went away, but she still seemed a little out of sorts over the weekend. Not sleeping well, more clingy than usual, a little more fragile. You know, the kind of thing where you can't tell if it's illness or just being one-and-a-half years old. Also, she had this cough. This cough, which last night blossomed into a scary sounding little seal-bark replete with wheezy, painful-sounding breathing. She woke herself up coughing at around 1:30 in the morning. (I, of course, had not yet gone to sleep, because who can sleep when your baby girl is barking like a seal every 10 minutes?) When I went into her room to get her, her breathing sounded so bad I took her right into the bathroom and turned on the shower full blast. We sat there in the steam, rocking, while Mr. Squab called the nurseline. Whee, parenting!!

So: one sleep deprived night and one visit to the doctor's office later, the Hatchling is diagnosed with croup - which I always think sounds Dickensian - PLUS, as a bonus, double ear infections! In this household, we don't pussyfoot around with disease. So we got a nice steroid shot for the croup - take THAT, Dickens - and some amoxicillin for the ear infections, and please lord that will take care of it, at least for this week.