Monday, October 25, 2010

Rough Night


'Tis the season for colds and other nasty viruses. We've been really fortunate this year, and Nolan hasn't been hit as hard as he usually is. Yesterday, the trademark red rings appeared under his eyes and he was a little crankier than usual.

At bathtime, he dunked his head under the water and came up screaming, clutching his left ear. The pain wore off and he seemed fine, so I wasn't too concerned. He went to bed fairly easily, which is a rarity for Nolan.

At 2:00am, what shall henceforth be called The Worst Night Ever began. He came into our room crying, and crawled onto our bed. He was struggling to breathe. His breath was making a "clicking" noise in addition to a slight wheeze. He started to fall asleep, but choked and woke up screaming. The rest of the night went as follows:

2:30am: I want go MY bed. Put me my bed! *I take him to his bed*
2:45am: I want go MOMMY'S bed! Waaaaahhhhhh! *I bring him back to our bed, gasping and wheezing.
3:00am: I want go MY bed. MY BED! MY BED!
3:20am: I want MOMMY'S BED! *chokes*
3:40am: I want go MY BED!

At this point, I made him stay in our bed. He was wheezing and gasping, and then if he adjusted himself correctly, he'd be OK for a few minutes. If he fell asleep, he'd start choking and gasping.

I'm really glad we didn't have a sleep study last night, because I'm pretty sure his oxygen saturation would have been terrible. I've never seen him do this before, so we are definitely mentioning it to the ENT. He fell asleep for good at about 6:00am.

When he woke, I thought we'd see a lot of congestion. He does have a slight runny nose, but nothing significant enough to cause that level of breathing difficulty. Hopefully he was just having an "off" night, because I don't think we can take another night of breathing issues coupled with no sleep.

I'm keeping an eye on his left ear (a little tender when I put in his hearing aid) and on his congestion/breathing. If he isn't any better tonight, then we're heading out to the pediatrician.

I really dislike germ season. Ugh.

6 comments:

xraevision said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
xraevision said...

Sounds terrible and very familiar. X's issues often conspire with each other to present a strange combination of symptoms, making it nearly impossible to diagnose. We typically end up taking shifts so that one parent is awake while he tries to sleep and breathe. And it always happens late at night on a weekend!

I really, really hope that Nolan is feeling better and that you get a good night's sleep.

Herding Grasshoppers said...

Oh Leah, my heart goes out to you both. Wish I had a magic remedy. Does steam help?

tammy said...

I guess if it's out there Nolan's picking it up. Poor little guy (and mom)! Hope you have more restful nights this week and it doesn't turn into anything too nasty.

tammy said...

I guess if it's out there Nolan's picking it up. Poor little guy (and mom)! Hope you have more restful nights this week and it doesn't turn into anything too nasty.

rouchi6 said...

I really wish nature was kinder to these kids.Already there is loads to work on and to top it these germs seem to just work faster on them.Prisha too has caught the cold and I am paranoid, the winters haven't even started yet!