4 Months...it's geting better

So, I don't think I've written about this horrible cough that Luke has had since he was about 2 weeks old. It started off not too terrible but it did sound like he was barking. I know what croup sounds like and that's what it sounded like to me. I called his pediatrician and told him about the cough when he was about a month old and he said that we live in the desert and it's allergy season, so this cough was not uncommon and it would just go away. He also told me all of the regular stuff that they tell you when your kid is sick...elevate the head of his bed, run a humidifier, keep an eye out for fevers, etc. All of this, I was already doing. So, his two month appointment comes and he still has his cough. I tell the pediatrician and he just repeats himself and I explain to him that I have been doing all of the preventative stuff since he was born and nothing seems to be helping him. Of course, Lucas does not cough while we are seeing him and he is such a happy little rotund baby, that the doctor looked at me like I was a little crazy. I asked him if it was normal for him to be barking for over a month and he said that it would just run its course. Sure, thanks. So month 3 rolls around and his barking is getting much worse and by now I'm expecting Luke to sleep through the night somewhat and he is waking up every two hours having horrible coughing fits. So, I called his doctor again and set up an appointment. We went in and I told him that I would not be leaving until he gave me some sort of remedy or explanation for his coughing. He gave us a prescription for some medicine like albuterol (but not albuterol) and told me to put it in a nebulizer. I just happened to have one at home because my sister in law Heather brought it over because I told her about Luke's cough and she thought it might help. The doctor also ordered a chest x-ray, although he told me that it wasn't necessary. We brought Luke home and ran the medicine through the nebulizer but he sounded a thousand times worse a few hours later...great. That night COLE woke up in the middle of the night barking like mad! We put him on the nebulizer with just saline solution in it and made him breathe it for about 20 minutes. He fell asleep while we were doing it, so we decided that I would take him to the doctor the next day. We went to the doctor to get Cole checked out and have the x-ray done on Luke. Cole had a little cough but seemed fine, so it seemed that the nebulizer really helped him out. We were told that Luke's pediatrician would call us the following day with the results. Another sleepless night for me and Luke:( Every two hours waking up was taking its toll on me for sure. My patience was slipping with Cole and Travis and I could feel me just not being normal anymore. I felt like a zombie. the next day came and nobody called. I called them in the afternoon and left a message, still no return call. I called the next morning...no return call. After Luke's first nap, he woke up having such a terrible coughing fit, that he could hardly catch his breath. His breathing in sounded like he was a harmonica. I rushed him to the urgent care and explained what was going on to the doctor. Guess what...he told me to run a humidifier and elevate the head of his bed and that it would just run its course...really???!?!?!?!! I asked if this cough would last forever because it had already been going on for almost all of his life. He kind of chuckled...yes, chuckled and told me that it was a virus and there is nothing you can do for a virus except wait for it to be over. I wanted to scream. I asked him if he could take a look at his x-rays because that is where we had them done, so he left and looked at them and came back to tell me that there was nothing wrong. Chest was clear. Although this was good news, I still needed a better answer than, he'd just get over it. I bought a $200 cool mist humidifier and put it in Luke's room. It felt like Hawaii in there:) I could tell that it eased his cough a tiny bit because it didn't sound SO dry but he was still barking uncontrollably and was waking himself up all throughout the night. Last week, I took him in for his 4 month appointment and when the doctor came in, he asked me how Lucas was and I could tell that he had no idea who we were or that we had been there 2 other times in the past month. I explained to him that Luke was barking and thank goodness, Luke actually barked on cue! The doctor looked at me and said, "That does not sound good!". DUH!!!!! He said that even if it was a virus, it should not last longer than 8 weeks max. DUH!!!!! So, he said that we would have to go see a pulmonary specialist and that he would put in for a referral with our insurance. He also said that he suspected that Luke has Tracheomalacia. It means he has a soft trachea (which makes breathing a bit difficult and causes coughing fits) and it is something he was born with. I felt so much better leaving the doctor's office with some sort of answer, even though I was a bit scared. That night, even Luke slept a lot better:) The next night he only woke up twice and the day before my birthday he only woke up once and didn't cough when he woke up! I honestly don't know what the deal is but he has been sleeping like a champ ever since. Apparently, Tracheomalacia goes away at about 18-24 months of age because the trachea finally gets harder. But, if that is what he has, Luke is ahead of schedule:) He still sounds barky when he coughs but it is a world away from how he was sounding a few weeks ago. We also started him on cereal earlier this week and I gave him some peas for dinner last night and he gobbled them up!! He has been a lot more chatty ever since he started sleeping better. You can tell that he has a raspy voice too. He is just all smiles and LOVES his older brother so much. He just beams when Coley comes around:) Napping is getting on more of a schedule and I am slowly starting to feel like myself again. I'm considering not going to the specialist when the referral goes through. Only because, if that is what he has, there is still nothing we can do for him. And they have to put him under anesthesia to put a scope down into his lungs, which freaks me out. But I'll decide when it comes time to make the appointment. For now, I am enjoying my little chubby, happy, well rested baby and I am REALLY enjoying sleeping better!