Asthma? Croup?

I have posted before about some of Blaine's respiratory problems (recurrent croup) and our middle of the night ER runs when he wakes up with a barky cough and stridor, not breathing well.  We have been seeing an asthma/allergy doctor for a couple of years and he has diagnosed him with a cough variant asthma.  I have never been totally confident in that diagnosis and after talking to the ER Dr and our pediatrician, we decided to pursue a second opinion with a Riley pediatric pulmonologist.  We had that appointment last Thursday and were very pleased with this doctor.  We did get some answers that I am more confident in, although it sounds as there is nothing really that we can do to prevent these episodes.  The doctor told us that he does see these types of kids periodically and there does not seem to be any triggers or reasons as to why these kids suddenly get croup episodes in the middle of the night.  They do seem to outgrow it, but they may be 10 years old or so before this happens.  In the meantime, he suggests getting to know our local ER, as we may visit there periodically.  However, after reviewing his history and symptoms, this doctor felt very confident that asthma is not part of Blaine's problem.  This is great news and there is no reason we need to be administering expensive, daily, low-dose steroids.  I guess that this momma's intuition was right on this one, as I was never convinced that the asthma diagnosis was a true answer.  Although we did not find any answers to prevent these croupy episodes, I was very glad that we sent for this second opinion and did at least get some clarification on the asthma question.  Please pray that these croupy/not breathing episodes become less frequent and less severe and that he outgrows them sooner than later!!!