Laryngotracheobronchitis (by alaric)

Poor little Jean! She was well recovered from her past viral infection, but a few days ago she started to drool excessively, went off her food, and became generally unhappy. We thought at first that she was just having more teeth break through her gums, which would have those effects, but she then started coughing, sleeping lots, she'd lost her voice, was hardly drinking any milk or water, and some spots that had begun to appear on her lower lip (where all the drool was running down) turned into nasty big red ones.

So today we phoned NHS Direct, who said that she sounded like she had croup, so we should expose her to steamy atmospheres. They also said they would contact the local out of hours doctor (our local surgery not being open today), who would ring us back soon.

So they rang back, and said they'd like us to bring her down to them to be looked at, if we could; after all, various other things have similar symptoms to croup, that can be a lot worse.

After a short wait, she was seen by a doctor, who summoned a colleague who specialised in children, and they said that it did indeed appear to be croup, but the one thing they couldn't safely check for was Epiglottitis since, if it was that, poking around in her airway to take a look might cause it to spasm, choking her. So they sent us off to the children's unit at a bigger hospital.

After some form-filling with a nurse, having Jean weighed and her vital signs checked, we were seen by a specialist who gave her a thorough examination, and pronounced that she almost certainly just had croup. He then had to go because of a shift changeover, so after a bit more waiting, another specialist came and said that he agreed, and that the nasty spots were probably Herpes. Sarah panicked a bit at this since she'd only heard of herpes as a sexually transmitted disease, and didn't realise it was the common coldsore, but that was soon cleared up!

So after even more waiting, they gave her some steroids to help reduce the swelling in her throat, and packed us off home.

Phew.

The NHS doctors and nurses we spoke to were lovely; noticeably different from the experiences we'd had in London! From the NHS direct phone people to the out of hours doctors at Stroud Hospital (which, alas, is currently fighting potential cutbacks), and the Children's Centre at Gloucester Royal Hospital, even though we did have to wait a long time for the senior doctor to come and see us!

Jean Stood Up! (by sarah)

Jean has not yet started crewling though she ended up somewhere today that could mean she has just started but thats not the impressive thing - we were changing her and things for bed and she got upset so we were sitting with her on the floor in her room when she took it into her head to crab her cot and pull herself up so she was standing!!!!

Makes us wonder if she's going to skip crawling altogether 🙂

Endless Poos (by sarah)

Jean is now regularly laying at least three sticky smelly eggs a day - they never end and they are foul!!!!

This is a change to the norm, one we are hoping is temporary after the virus infection she had.

Al tends to wear gas masks when chaning her - sigh.

Jean Clapping (by sarah)

Mum and dadsefforts to get Jean clapping worked - today she clapped her hands instead of just getting too interested in the adults hands that were clapping 🙂

Food Confusion and Wiggling! (by sarah)

Jean saw the pasty I had made for Al and being in his arms she leaned as far over as she could and tried to reach the pasty. When this failed she begain furiously signing for milk with both hands at it! We laughed so much - she sees food as sort of 'double' milk and quiet often frantically signs for milk when she wants food - though this isnt really suprizing as milk was her only 'food'' for a long time. She is also improving on the crawling front though still not getting anywhere - poor baby 🙁 What she does is manage to get herself up on her hands and knees but then she just wobbles backwards and forwards until either her hands slip and she falls flat on her face or her legs slip and she goes rapidly backwards. Obviously this is really frustrating for her! But she can turn over and roll sideways quiet well 🙂