We saw the doctor. She does have croup. The doctor said some kids have it and can seem lively and well by day (my daughter has the cough and different voice but is happy and playful) but by night the symptoms all worsen. He said it is spread like a cold so the same cold precautions (hand washing etc). He said that it spreads as a cold not as croup. The child that then comes across the germs then reacts in their given way (croup or cold etc). So, she is contagious but won't necessarily spread croup versus just a cold virus.

He said the despite being well during the day today it doesn't mean tonight will be smooth, it could progress and her breathing become too hard and we need to bring to emerge. There is no way of knowing until it happens.

We got a liquid steroid (one dose) to give. I will likely wait until this evening to see how the night goes. It seems wrong to give an energetic happy child steroids. But I filled the prescription as it is equally wrong to not have it one hand when we know she could turn or the worse again tonight. Hopefully the worst is past though!

I've let the parents know that I will update them in the morning but if she survives the night at home and is the same tomorrow I am willing to provide care should they want it.

Apparently only about 5% of children with croup require hospital care. So, while croup seems like a scary thing as we only hear about the worst cases it is just a more extreme reaction to a cold where the airways swell some and make breathing noisy and harder but generally there is no extreme intervention needed. BUT you never know how the child will react and when and if they will will require that hospital care to breath...which makes it much scarier than a cold!