Lily's first trip to the ER...

So last night around midnight Lily woke up crying and as usual I let her cry a little...next thing I know Chad had brought her downstairs...which is normally a big no no, but he had a very worried look on his face. He said he heard her cough through the baby monitor and it just didn't sound right. As soon as he got closer I could hear it in her breathing, very raspy and almost forced, like she was having problems breathing. That immediately scared me. Chad held her and put her in her carseat while I gathered a few diapers and things to occupy her at the hospital. She cried all the way there, and as much as I didn't like that, I at least knew she was breathing. I did notice that she seemed alright until the car got warmer, so I turned the heat off about half way there. As soon as we got there they got us back to Triage and immediately in a room. A nurse came to check on us and Lily was all smiles and "talking" to everyone. part of me felt bad because now she seemed okay. She didn't cough much but you could hear it in her breathing, a deep raspy-ness. The Dr. immediately said he thought it was Croup. I had told them I just knew she didn't sound right, like she couldn't breath. I was afraid she had picked something up off of the floor and put it in her mouth earlier and had gotten lodged (grated this is midnight, she went to bed at 8:30. I figure if something had gotten stuck it would have caused problems before now...but who knows). Th Dr. ordered neck x rays just to be sure. Within minutes we were taken back to get the x rays...I had to put her on this bicycle looking seat and then they close this clear tube like thing around her while I held her arms up...(see below)

(that isn't her in the pic...got it from a google search) I felt so bad...they warned me that she would most likely cry a lot, but she actually did really well. I stood in front of her, holding her hands and he head still, and she didn't cry until I moved out of her sight...the x ray techs were sort of surprised. They made sure they got the x rays, sent them to the Dr. and then we were on our way back to the room. About 20 minutes later (if that), the Dr. came to the room, said the x rays looked good and it was definitely Croup that she had. They were going to give her a steroid shot to help her airway, then we would be on our way. They told me that if she started to cough and get bad to bundle her up and sit outside with her, that the cool air would help her a lot, or we could get the bathroom all steamy and sit in there, and that too would help her. Needless to say, she slept in our room in her pack and play for the next two nights so we could keep an eye on her. We borrowed a humidifier from Glenn (Chad's brother) and Erin and ran it at night for her. She is doing a lot better. I can occasionally hear a little raspy-ness in her voice when breathing before bed, but the humidifier helps with that. I know Chad said that he barely slept that first night. He said one minute you could hear her raspy breathing and the next you couldn't and he was scared she has quit breathing, but she didn't quit breathing, she had just changed positions and you couldn't hear her as much...kind of like when people snore, and they change positions and you can't hear the snoring anymore.
It was such a scare and I am soooooooooooooo glad that she is feeling better.