Stumped

That is what our pediatrician said - she is stumped. Henry is acting fine, eating well, barely coughing now, and has no congestion. His chest sounded perfectly clear, which is good. He wasn't wheezing, but he definitely has labored breathing (you can hear him breathing loudly and can see the skin between his ribs sucking in with each breath) and she was concerned about that, especially because she couldn't find anything else. Plus, 5 hours straight of severe coughing/choking is obviously not good.

She is toying with the idea of asthma. You can't diagnose asthma at this age, but you can diagnose "asthmatic symptoms" and treat based on that. He has had several instances of wheezing when he was younger, so we kind of had an eye on that anyway. In the end she decided that giving him an inhaler at this point is premature, but if he has another bad night tonight we need to see the on-call doctor this weekend and potentially get one.

So, good news - so far it doesn't seem like a bad cold/flu/whatever, he is happy while awake, not contagious, etc. Also, he has been in his room fo an hour now for his nap with NO COUGHING! (we still have his mattress at a major incline to help)

Bad news - we don't know what the heck happened, he could potentially have asthma, he could have another bad night tonight, there are zero cough medicines approved for his age so we can't alleviate his symptoms more than what we are already doing, and although he is in his room he is (sob) skipping his nap. You would think he would be tired after only getting 5 hours of sleep instead of his usual 11, but I guess not. Too bad, I could have used one!