Kensley has had a cough all day yesterday, but didn't have any other symptoms and kept telling me she felt fine. She even said her throat didn't hurt. It wasn't really that bad, just sounded awful. Last night I was hoping to get a good night's sleep because I always go to bed way too late. So, I took some Benadryl and went to bed. The next thing I knew, it was about 2:15 in the morning and Stephen was waking me up saying that Kensley couldn't breathe. Apparently, she had been hysterical in her room and I didn't hear a thing! It is really unheard of for Stephen to hear her before me! Her breathing was really labored and she was crying and scared. I really had no idea what to do to help her, other than take her to the hospital. That freaked her out and made things worse because she didn't want to go! She kept saying she felt better, even though it was obvious she didn't. Eventually, she threw up, but was able to tell me so it made it into a bowl at least. After she threw up, she said that was all she needed to do and she was all better now. We took her to the emergency room anyway. They said that she had croup, which was what I figured it was since she sounded like a barking seal when she coughed. Her breathing was fine when we got there, but it probably would have happened again once we put her back to bed. They took her vital signs and everything was good with that. So, they gave her a Hello Kitty sticker and then some steroid medicine. It was a liquid that she could drink to reduce the swelling in her throat. When they checked her throat, it was really red, but they said it wasn't completely closed off because we caught it early. They also said they had been treating kids with croup all night long, at least 10 other kids, because it is going around the valley. They gave her a popsicle and said she would be good to go to school on Monday. We were in and out of the hospital in an hour and back in bed by 4am. She slept fine, in between me and Stephen, for the rest of the night. On our way home from the hospital, she was all smiles. Stephen's cousin was here visiting so we were both able to go to the ER with Kensley, while Stephanie was at the house with Pyper. Kensley told me before she went to bed tonight that if she wakes up not being able to breathe that I have to take her to the hospital myself and not Daddy. She said I could take care of it. Thank you Kensley, I will do that, but hopefully it won't happen again! This was my first time ever visiting an ER and it wasn't that awful. I really regretted the Benadryl I took, though!
