My daughter was struggling to breathe the other night, these two things saved us

When you become a parent, you realise that everything scares you.

Before becoming a parent, you used to just be able to cruise through life, completely oblivious to the hazards at every turn. I miss that life sometimes, everything seemed so much simpler then.

These days we hear of so many potential issues that add to our anxiety, and I’m a person who doesn’t handle it all that well, I know that. I used to be of the opinion that watching the news and hearing about all the potential threats was not beneficial to my mental state, but the other night something I had reluctantly learned came into play, and I’m so glad it did.

The other night, as our 4.5-year-old daughter fell asleep next to us on the lounge, I noticed that her stomach and ribs were sucking in quite alarmingly, and her little body was working harder to breathe than it should be.

The first lifesaver

Now, as background, Eva has incredibly large tonsils. She is actually booked in for a tonsillectomy later this month. So she is no stranger to snoring and has always been a mouth breather. None of these things are alarming to us, but it was materials I had seen on Tiny Hearts Education that made me realise what was happening wasn’t normal.

Tiny Hearts are a great resource to follow on instagram, because not only do they identify hazards and threats you may not have thought of, like marshmallows as choking hazards, and falling from learning towers, but they also do in-depth videos on symptoms and signs to look out for in kids, and it was because of these videos that I thought to check and monitor Eva’s chest.

The second port of call

I quickly got on the phone to the local children’s hospital, who informed me about Healthdirect Australia. This is a free health service staffed by registered nurses that will assess your child over the phone, for free. Our thinking was that even though her breathing was laboured, she was asleep, and we were unsure whether it was serious enough to drag her to the emergency department.

We spoke to an amazing registered nurse called Monique, who asked me to wake Eva and performed a 30-minute full assessment of her over the phone. She was so thorough, I felt so supported and like we were in incredible hands. Her recommendation at the end of the phone call was that she didn’t need to go to emergency, and to see a GP within the week. I booked an appointment for the following day.

We moved her bed into our room, propped her up on a few pillows and ran the humidifier throughout the night to try and ease her breathing.

A great tip in times of trouble

Even after seeing the GP, we ended up spending the day at the hospital just a few days later, as her snoring led me to believe her airway was becoming even a little more constricted. Looking back on what was a pretty scary time, I can honestly say that as a parent, there’s nothing more important than trusting your instinct. We have so many amazing resources at our disposal, and using them is integral. The big tip I have is that if your child is ever symptomatic in any way, it’s always helpful to have a video or an audio recording. I took one of her chest when she was experiencing laboured breathing, and then one when she was breathing easier, for comparison. Likewise we took an audio recording of her heavy snoring, so that when we went to hospital I was armed with examples to show the doctors. 

You can find Tiny Hearts Education here.

You can call Healthdirect Australia on 1800 022 222.