Speed Bumps- The Croup

 Breckin came down with the croup a few days ago. On the third day his breathing was really labored so I made an appointment to take him to the doctor. Jon came home from work to stay with Em so she could avoid some of the doctor's-office-germs, and I headed out with feverish Breckin. After waiting for twenty minutes we saw the doctor.

 "If he was six months old you would have had him in the hospital by now. But he is big enough that his lung are moving air okay. Whether it's just croup or also some mild pneumonia, the treatment is the same. I'll give you a steroid. Studies show that it should help within the first dose. It's the important one. There is a shot for the steroid, but he can just take the medicine. You can even mix it in with his milk.  And I recommend an antibiotic, too. It could be a bacterial infection, and I'd give it to my grandson if it were me, just to be on the safe side."

 I asked him to call the prescription in to our pharmacy and headed there with my sick baby. We went through the drive though and the medicine wasn't ready, so we ran to the bank and then back. By then Breckin was pretty hungry, and McDonald's was unfortunately our best bet. So I fed Breckin bits of cheeseburger as I drove home.

 The steroid had to be taken with food, and Jon had fifteen minutes before he had to be back at the station. So I filled the dropper with the medication and Jon decided to do the honors before he walked out the door. He squeezed of the liquid steroid into Breckin's mouth.

 Without pause, Breckin threw up.

 Then he threw up again.

 And again.

 I cleaned up the three messes and Jon threw him into the bathtub and left for work. As I mopped up chunks of MacDonald's off the kitchen floor, I worried that Jon would be late for work, and worried about Breckin in the bathtub by himself. And I worried about the lost medicine and my sick baby. And I was tired. And hungry.

 I got Breckin out of the bathtub and decided to try give him some medicine myself. Maybe Jon had accidentally pushed it in too far and gagged him? I took up the tiniest amount and gently squeezed it into Breckin's cheek.

 He threw up.

 He threw up again.

 I wiped him up again and called Jon. By now I was pretty stressed. Jon had already arrived at work. "I'm having a really hard time," I said. And he came back. Just for me, because I needed him, he came back.

 We got the kids into bed for naps and started doing the dishes. And finally, I cried. I cried and cried.

 Jon gave me a hug and a caring look. He smiled at my tears and stood by me.

 And then it was better. The crisis moment in my day was over.

 Breckin suddenly turned the corner from growing worse to growing better. All that throwing up must have helped clear out his airways a little. We didn't even need to go in for a steroid shot. And from that moment on he has been improving, all without ingesting a drop of medicine. We had prayed for him, so maybe God had something to do with it.

 My life isn't always fun. Sometimes it's all I can do to not lose my cool, to save the tears until my kids are in bed and they can plop fat and full onto hot wet dishes.

 Life is made of moments good and bad. There are speed bumps. But there is smooth sailing-- miles of it-- between the bumps. And lots of sunny skies overhead :)