By the time I got to the doctors, the wheezing was minor, but she said his stomach was a bit gurgley, so she prescribed some medicine (probiotics and a digestive) and that was that. We had a nice day and I kept an eye on him with seemingly no troubles.
After his second nap, however, he woke up choking and unable to breathe. The wheezing was so bad and, between the coughing and spluttering, he was in quite a panic. I took him straight to the doctors again, and this time she could definitely hear it and was surprised.
They put him on a vaporiser with some medicine in it (he hated that though, and wouldn't keep it on his face), in the hopes that it would help, but when it didn't it was time to send me to hospital. They weren't sure if he had swallowed something or not and by this stage I was getting quite worried.
They called around to the local hospitals (in Japan you can't just show up to a hospital) and the second one accepted him. This one would also allow me to stay over if Pi had to stay overnight. So off we went in a taxi (I was hoping my husband could get the car- actually it ended up being an expensive hassle as we both had to take a taxi in the end because of a nurse at the clinic), and to the hospital emergency room we went.
By this stage I was trying not to panic, but the worst was running through my mind. I was finally able to get in touch with my husband who would meet us there.
When we arrived we registered with reception and then waited for our turn. It might have taken about an hour to see the doctor (though a nurse took his temperature and blood oxygen level shortly after we arrived).
Thankfully, he was diagnosed with croup. And while it is scary for a parent (and the baby) to witness their child not being able to breathe properly, at least it wasn't something major.
As it was after 7pm, most pharmacies would be closed but I was able to use the hospital pharmacy and the doctor prescribed a steroid, for him to take if he got worse.
Thankfully, child medicine and treatment in Japan is free (though not the taxi's to the hospital which was about 10000 all up).
Home we went and because of us still being scared about his breathing we set up the futon in his room, and turned the humidifier on high (it's supposed to help) and slept in there. The poor little man was having such a rough time sleeping. He usually sleeps quite soundly, but he started waking up every 30 mins, then 20mins, and then when he was waking up every 10 minutes or so we had him take the medicine. Thankfully, after that his windpipe must have opened up much more and he slept quite well in my arms. I moved him back into his crib shortly after midnight.
The whole episode meant that he only had about 7 hours of very broken sleep- usually he has 12 hours, and napped terribly the next day.
I am glad to say that the episodes after his naps yesterday were barely there at all, and he slept normally the following night. Which I am so thankful for.
Croup usually follows a small cold- but I think he was the reverse. Now he seems like he has a cold, whereas before he didn't. Though, most teething symptoms are similar to that of a cold so I suppose maybe he did have a mild cold before.
Either way, I am glad to report that he seems on the mend.
http://www.webmd.com/children/tc/croup-topic-overview
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