Another Long Night

Well that was a long night.

Playgroup's little gift, as expected, has kept on giving. Last night, Sontoo began showing signs of picking up whatever it was Sonwun brought home from playgroup. And that is not a good thing.

Sontoo has had three bouts with croup in his 18 months. Each one starts with a little cough, cold or flu and each one has ended with a trip to the hospital. Last night was no exception.

Shortly after Sonwun went to bed, at 7:45, Sontoo started barking and having trouble breathing. Fortunately, I suppose, it wasn't the first time, so I knew what was coming and, with mommy gone for another two weeks, I had laid out my plan for just such an occasion.

Sonwun was ordered back out of bed and told to get dressed, just in case it was so bad that I'd have to scoop and run. In the meantime, I started on the home remedies. They've helped in the past, but never solved the problem. Warm, moist air in the bathroom, a trip outside for cold night air, soothing voice . . . again, helped but did not put an end to the horrible barking and laboured breathing.

Called for reinforcements from one of mommy's new co-workers here in Thompson and, within 10 minutes, I had Ty here to watch Sonwun while I took Sontoo to the Thompson Hospital. God bless him.

Now, as is the case with most small-town hospitals in Canada, and especially those in the north, you hear horror stories about wait times, impatient staff, etc., etc. As such, I was pretty nervous about having to sit in a filthy waiting room for hours with a coughing, angry baby.

But I was pleasantly surprised. We were ushered into an exam room almost immediately and a nurse came in shortly thereafter to have a look at Sontoo. The doctor wasn't too far behind and, within an hour, we were receiving treatment. Sontoo is not a big fan of anyone, other than mommy or daddy, touching him, poking him or prodding him. And he gets downright indignant if someone tries to put an oxygen mask on him, daddy or not.

We'll call the wrestling match a draw. But I did get most of the vapourized medication into his lungs while he did his utter best to destroy the mask. A round of steroids followed and then we waited for a pediatrician to come by and have a look before being released.

The staff at Thompson Hospital was great, I must repeat. Friendly, compassionate and all that good stuff.

But the cleanliness of the exam rooms left a little to be desired. The rooms were less than sanitary and I did see one piece of bloody gauze on the floor. So even when Sontoo began to feel better, I could not put him down. And carrying that little tank for two and a half hours is hard on the back, I don't care who you are.

Well, we made it home, Sontoo fell asleep almost immediately in his crib and I sacked out on the couch with the baby monitor by my head. Couldn't sleep for a few hours as I listened to him breathe, but it's all good.

Oh, and did I mention it was snowing last night? First of the season. Great timing.

Anyway, that was my night. Must get the day started with a big, strong ol' cup of coffee. Here's hoping for a good day today and a better night tonight.