She's feeling like croup :(

We took Ellis to the emergency on-call pediatrician on Sunday morning and they diagnosed her with croup. I guess that croup is an inflammation of the airway that is common in infants. It all started on Saturday when Ellis started coughing and wheezing a little bit during and after her naps. Then, about 15 minutes after we had put her down for the night, she woke up crying and threw up. We finally managed to get her cleaned up and back to sleep, but about 2 hours later it all happened again. I knew at this point that it was going to be a long night and I was right. Ellis would only sleep if I was holding her and even then she woke up every 30 minutes to cough. The coughing sounded like nothing I've ever heard before. The pediatrician described it as a "barking seal" kind of noise. Anyways, the coughing made her cry because it hurt, so I'd have to console her back to sleep.

For those of you who have spent any time around Ellis, you know that she is not a cuddler. She wants to crawl and do and get into things. In fact, she hasn't fallen asleep on me since she was 3 months old. She needs/wants her own crib, her own space, her own independence (hmmmm, wonder where she gets that from?). So, even though I was exhausted, I knew she had to be really sick to want to be held all night. As much as possible, I just tried to enjoy the snuggles and, thankfully, she is feeling better now. The pediatrician put her on a mild steroid to reopen the airway and her breathing sounds better. Plus, she slept her normal 12 hours in her crib last night. But, needless to say, I don't have any pictures of this weekend to post.

Hopefully soon though. Her "Uncle Bro" arrives from L.A. in 3 hours to spend Thanksgiving with us. YAY!