Croupy Kid - Update

"Croupy Kid", that's the label K got at the hospital last Friday. Since our midnight visit to the ER, we learned tons about that nasty Croup, and we just wish we had known some facts before it happened. Here are some of the facts that we learned:

• the virus causes swelling of airways in a throat area not lungs (even though it sounds like the problem is in the lungs)
• croup has a characteristic funny sounding cough (barking seal)
• it attacks at night
• once a child gets croup, it may come back with the next cold but should go away by the age of 5

Treatment we got at the hospital:

• breathing treatment (air with medicine was blown through a tube into K's face; the tube was never forced into her throat, thank goodness)
• Prednisolone, a medicine with steroids taken orally
  

After googling the side effects of Prednisolone, we found out that it may cause:

• severe stomach pain
• severe headache
• dangerously high blood pressure
• uneven heart beats
• stunted growth
• breathing problems (isn't it what it's supposed to prevent?)
• swelling of face, lips, tongue or throat (again!!)
  
• convulsions
• seizures
• problems with vision
• severe depression
• bloody poop
• coughing up blood

Next time croup decides to stop by:

• we will not use the steroids
• we will use the humidifier as soon as we see first croup symptoms
• in case of the attack we'll dress K warmly and take her outside (cool air opens up the airways)
• we'll do our best to calm K down - crying causes more swelling in the throat

Last night was the first night since the midnight attack that K has slept through. But it was the second night that K has slept from 7.30pm to 10am! Somebody is catching up on her beauty sleep.

And, yesterday K finally started eating again. She had always been a great eater, so when after the croup attack she ate only a teaspoon of solids a day, I was freaking out.

I took her on a date to an Indian Restaurant yesterday, and she was basically inhaling food. I was so relieved to see it that I got all teared up and... hungry just watching her eat. After 4 days of dieting, K is back!!!

A Fun Day At The Golden Gate Park in San Francisco

First we walked around, went to a museum, ate lunch when watching these guys skating, and then drove home snoozing away.

Got Milk?

Tall Enough

K found her new toy at home that has always been there, but she couldn't reach it. Now she is all over it.

Another Visit at ER

For the past few days K has been feverish. We weren't sure if it was caused by her teething, since all her upper teeth decided to show up at once. Yesterday afternoon she started coughing a bit and her voice changed. Then her breathing became kind of loud.

When she woke up at 1am, we knew something was not right. She definitely had trouble breathing, so we quickly called the nurse. She didn't seem alarmed asking us to stay with K in a steamy bathroom and watch her later at night. We were on the phone with the nurse for up to 20 minutes and by the end of it, K could hardly grasp for air. I think it was the scariest thing I've ever gone through in my life. At one point I wasn't sure who was shivering K or I.

Even though the nurse tried to calm us down, we hung up on her and rushed to the hospital. K did much better in the car; we think it was the cool breeze that helped her breath. K was diagnosed with croup, a viral infection of the respiratory tract. I never heard of it, but we were assured that it's quite common among toddlers.

Within 4 hours that we spent at the ER, K received some medicine and a breathing treatment to help open up her airway. Before feeding K with the meds, the nurse warned us that kids usually freak out when given this medication. K after swallowing her dose screamed: "MORE". The breathing treatment wasn't too bad either. Other kids according to the nurse don't like it, K loved it. She had fun chewing on the breathing tube. By the time we were dismissed, K was snoozing catching up on her sleep.

We got home at around 5am exhausted but relieved. K is doing much much better today.

Who's In Charge?

When I was at a Puppy School once, the instructor told us that dogs think they own the house and that we, the owners, just happen to live with them. He said that we need to change their way of thinking quickly, or they'll always think they are in charge.

I believe K has the mentality of a little dog. Recently she's started acting 'strange' when not given what she wants. She gets very upset when we don't let her use our cell phones and especially computers. She cries, screams and kicks which is so new and surprising that it's hard to do anything else but laugh. We, however, know better.

Len and I had a little talk about that the other day because we both don't want this to get out of control. We decided that we can't give in. We need to be consistent and No Playing On The Computer means No Playing On The Computer. Without thinking much I ended the conversation by saying "We'll just have to get Klaudia her own little computer."

So much for not giving in...

House Hunting

I never thought we'd ever be able to buy a house in the bay area. But since the prices went down so dramatically, we believe that this is a perfect opportunity for us to try to find our nest.

Since I had never been involved in buying a home, I know nothing about the procedure. Talking to an agent is like speaking a foreign language. Good thing Len speaks it.

We've been looking at the houses for the last few weeks. We know that in our price range, we won't be getting a mansion. But the places we've seen were in short - depressing. First, our agent would drive us through a beautiful neighborhood only to pass it and park her car between the cemetery and... our potential home. All we heard was: this is your last chance. If you don't buy this one, you won't find another one like that.

But last Sunday, we found it: a beautiful 4-bedroom home (we changed the agent by the way). First, we saw it with our agent in the morning. We fell in love with it right away (with the home, not the agent). We were advised to go back and see it again that afternoon during open house hours. I promised myself not to get attached to places that are not ours but didn't know that it was impossible. By the time we got there in the afternoon, I had all the furniture planned out and was thinking about what food to serve during the house warm up party.

To our surprise, there were tons of people falling in love with our home. We stayed there for up to 10 minutes and saw at least 20 potential buyers viewing the place. While Len was talking to the selling agent, I kept looking at all these people thinking: "Please, don't get too comfortable; it's not your place yet."

We made an offer on that house the next day and quickly learned that there were 3 other offers way higher than ours. And although we thought that this was it, the dream home, we have to believe that God has something better in store for us.

So, our house hunting continues...