The morning of July 4th, Aiden woke up coughing like crazy. As soon as we got up there, the cool Michigan air had given him a little cold and it progressively got worse. Because he was starting to sound like someone who smokes a pack a day - all raspy, wheezy and phlegmy - we decided it would be best to have him checked out to make sure it wasn't something more serious than a cold.
We called our pediatrician at home and asked for his advice on what to do and he suggested we make a trip to the nearest hospital or urgent care center. We squeegied his nose one last time (that's what I call using the bulb syringe), put him in his seat, wrapped the mosquito netting around the seat and got on the road.
The nearest hospital was in Holland, MI about 25 miles away. Holland isn't the biggest city in the world by any means, but the small hospital was very up-to-date, clean and quite pleasant. The staff was very nice and we knew we made the right decision to bring him in. It was not crowded - probably beating the rush they would get from fireworks accidents that evening.
They weighed him (13 lbs. 6 oz.!) and immediately heard how congested he sounded. After doing all the other pre-registration items, they sent us to wait for the doctor in an examining room. One chest x-ray, one phlegm collection and three breathing treatments later, we were sent home.
The chest x-ray was clear, the phlegm collection ruled out RSV and the breathing treatments dramatically improved how he sounded. They ordered a nebulizer to bring home with us and prescribed a steroid and the abuterol for the breathing treatments.
He's doing just fine - and seems to be shaking this cold more and more each day. It just has to run its course. He does really well with the breathing treatments. The hum of the little machine and the cool misty air usually calms him and puts him right to sleep. We will follow up with our doctor here sometime this week.
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