Crap. Croup.

Both babies got sick over the weekend — Colin had a fever and Veronica was just “off” on Sunday morning. By Monday, she started coughing. We canceled the babies’ 15-month check-up appointment, which was supposed to be on Tuesday. They were supposed to get shots, and with Colin’s fever we knew that wasn’t going to happy. 

On Monday night, Colin’s fever broke and he started to feel better. But by Tuesday morning it was clear that a trip to the doctor for a sick baby visit with Veronica was in order. 

So I canceled my morning conference calls and Colin and I hung out while John took Veronica to the doctor. He was the third person in line when the doors opened, and the waiting room was full in no time, which is why I kept Colin at home with me. Our doctor is on vacation, but substitute doctor was actually the one we had seen before (the doctor who was surprised when we said that Colin and Veronica were preemies). 


Turns out Veronica has croup, which, of course, is contagious. So Veronica got a prescription for dexamethasone — a strong oral steroid, and ironically, the same steroid I was given before the twins were born to help develop their lungs. Unfortunately, the strength the doctor prescribed didn’t come in a liquid. So John had to crush up the three little pills and feed them to Veronica in some yogurt.  


Her cough is sounding better now, but little girl clearly is not feeling well. And, consequently, she is not sleeping well either. This afternoon, she napped for a whopping 15 minutes. I walked with her in the stroller for more than an hour, hoping she would nod off. She was definitely in a zone, but no sleep. 


The doctor also wanted us to keep Colin and Veronica separated, so Colin wouldn’t get sick. Well, aside from the fact that they’d been sharing toys before we found out what Veronica had, we discovered that even with both of us home it’s nearly impossible to keep two 15 month old babies apart. They want to be with each other, and they always want what the other one is playing with. 

So now we’re watching Colin closely to see if he’s going to end up with croup too. Fingers crossed that he doesn’t, since it potentially could be much worse for him. And here’s hoping Veronica feels better tomorrow and is a little happier.