u/Dragonsrule18

But now his bowl forever remains empty and I wish he'd barge in one more time to ask me to fill it.

My husband, 23 month old and I are in another state (we live in the United States) visiting my parents. I put my toddler to bed and he had a slight sniffle and cough which I thought was allergies.

Suddenly at midnight, he wakes up hysterically crying and coughing, and when I pick him up, he's wheezing with each breath. I've never heard what croup sounds like before so I thought he might be having bronchitis(he's had it after a cold once before) or even an asthma attack. I wake up my husband who's also worried and thinks we should take him to the hospital and then my parents.

My stepmom suggests calling an ambulance so we do. It was a terrifying wait and I was scared he was going to stop breathing or something. The paramedics come in and his oxygen is totally fine. We ride to the hospital and the wheezing sound calms down some in the ambulance. They're not worried but tell me I did the right thing calling them. We get him into the hospital, the doctor comes in, and he says that it's croup after only a second of listening to his breathing. He gives him an oral steroid for the inflammation and within ten minutes my son is feeling better.

Probably one of the most terrifying experiences of my life but he's doing so much better now. Kind of feel dumb for calling an ambulance but it did get the steroid to him quickly.

And then he turned into a Tasmanian devil.