Shane Games

Shane gave us another scare in the wee hours of Thursday morning. I'm beginning to think that parenting is half responding to imaginary crises and half responding to real crises. You just don't know if it's a real crisis or not until after you start reacting.

At 2 AM, Shane started a coughing fit in his crib. He did not cry, but the coughing continued until 2:20 AM when Carrie got worried enough to get out of bed. I admit, I wasn't at that point yet, but I was laying awake listening. I was more worried going in there would prevent Shane from going back to sleep since he wasn't crying yet and that that would upset him and cause everyone to get up.

Carrie was also extra-sensitive at this point. We got a text over the weekend that her father had a coughing fit that caused him to pass out. He fell on the hardwood face first, broke his glasses, and gashed his forehead. Everyone was worried about his heart, but after being at the hospital they determined his coughing fit was severe enough that it had cut blood flow to the brain. Very scary. You can see why Carrie would be extra worried when her son starts having a coughing fit after what happened to her dad.

Where was I? Oh, right. A little after 2:20 AM, Carrie has a warm bottle and goes to check on Shane. She starts to panic and call for me. She says that Shane wasn't responding to her when she first tried to wake him. When I get in the room, he starts to vomit what looks to be mucous. Shane's still coughing.

Carrie is scared. She starts saying, "We need to call 911."

I'm worried, too. Thankfully, I'm normally calm in the moment of a crisis (the jitters may hit me later when the adrenaline dumps out of my system). I flip the light on and look at Shane's face and lips. I don't see any blue tinging. There's no sign I can tell of that he's short on oxygen. The coughing is unabated, and he's clearly not well, though. He's crying off and on in the gaps between coughing, but the fact he can cry is a sign that he can breathe.

Carrie's still asking for an ambulance. I don't want to call one out for a false alarm, but I also know my wife well enough that we're going to end up in a hospital. I tell Carrie to go start the car. Giving someone on the verge of panic a job is a good way to focus them. I can't see any sign that Shane is in immediate danger as worrying as the situation is. I want to get him outside, because the cold air helped when he had the croup cough last time. Shane vomits more mucus on me to let me know that he really is sick.

By the time we get to the hospital, Carrie wants me to run into the ER with Shane while she parks. "Don't let them make you wait!!!" Shane's happy as a horse in a field at this point. I think he remembers the hospital fondly. All the lights and attention! I have him standing on the stand-in counter coughing and cooing when she comes sprinting.

I admit: last time when Shane ended up having bronchilitis I had thought it was going to be unnecessary to go the ER. That time, I was wrong. This time, I was right. Nothing showed up on the x-rays. Shane's oxygen levels were fine. He had a slight temperature and was cranky, but otherwise doing well. Hallelujah!

I am glad we went to the ER to get everything checked out, but I'm happier that I have good health insurance. Shane's doing fine now as if the whole thing never happened. He's still stuffy and congested, but that's been the status quo with his allergies. He has an appointment for allergy testing on the 17th.

That's one more scare to add to the tally. I'll have to post more of the fun Shane stuff later on. It sounds like he's waking up from his early nap. I managed to type in three quick posts! Not too shabby if I do say so myself.