A Trip to the IWK

Well...I almost made it through Ava's first year without having to take her to the Emergency Room!!! We started off our Easter weekend with a long and eventful night. J.P. and I had actually gone out for the evening (a rare occurance) and my mom came over to babysit. When I arrived home Ava was wheezing and coughing pretty badily. I realized that it was definitely more than a cold and quickly called J.P. to cut his poker game short so we could take her to the hospital. Luckily, there was not too many people in waiting room seeing as though it was 1am on a long weekend. We saw the doctor within about an hour and she confirmed that Ava had croup. It is an upper respiratory infection caused by a virus that causes swelling in the windpipe and voice box (hence the barky "seal" cough!). She gave her a single dose of oral steroids and we were on our way. She was given a panda bear to take home from the nursing staff for being such a good patient! She's recovered pretty quickly and managed to have a fun Easter, as you'll see from the pictures. Throughout the week she was still a bit wheezy, especially at night, but we've been able to ease her discomfort by using a vaporizer and taking her outside in the cool air.