An Evening at the ER

I might have overreacted when i rushed to the hospital with Doodle yesterday afternoon, but the events leading up to that decision were some of the scariest in my mommying life (second only to the time Honeybun ended up there after a head bonk and seizure).

We had a perfectly normal morning. Doodle had a nap, the girls did school. We decided to run some errands before an appointment to view a house we are interested in (yep, we’re still looking for a new place)

We got lunch, went to the craft store (finally got some Thanksgving/Fall decorations at an awesome price!), went to the library to get some books about pilgrims.

All the while Doodle was fine. He ate a great lunch. He laughed through the craft store. He nursed then ran wild at the library and for the first time ever walked holding BOTH of his sister’s hands.

When we got to the house he wandereed around with me and the girls (hubby decided to skip since it’s very similar to one we saw previously). When we got ready to go look at the pool and yard, he asked me to pick him up and snuggled in real close. It was near nap time so I didn’t think too much of it.

Until we crossed the kitchen and he threw up. Everywhere. I was so embarrassed and shocked and when he went to spew again I cuddled him close to me and let it all go down my shirt to save this poor woman’s house. Once more on the floor and again in the sink.

When he finally seemed like it was done, I took him out to the car to get cleaned up. During my years as a mommy and early childhood teacher, I’ve been thrown up on, peed on, pooped on and bled on more times than I care to remember. Baby body fluids are no biggie to me anymore. But what happened next is something I’ve never experienced before.

I laid him in the grass by the car and took his soiled clothes off. I grabbed the diaper bag and when I turned back around to him, he was white as paper and his lips were blue. I began gently calling his name and he barely cracked his eyes. I rubbed his tummy and he tried to moan but nothing really came out. I picked him up and he was limp until I got him to my shoulder and he curled up into the nape of my neck.

It was terrifying. I had my realtor call hubby and I called the doctor. I left a message saying we were going to the hospital and hubby left work to meet us there.

The hospital our pediatrician works at is about 15 miles from our home and where we were. When I buckled him in his seat his color had started to return and by the time we arrived at the ER, he was “mooing” and “choo-chooing”. (Why my kids perk up and act perfectly normal as soon as we get to the ER I’ll never know!). The girls had kept me posted the enitre drive: “he’s still sleeping, mommy.” “I see him breathing.” “He’s pinkinsh, like his normal color.”

Our realtor had followed me there (we’ve known her since we bought our first house before we were even married, sold my parents their house here, did the short sale on our first house and helped us buy our current house). She even watched the girls for us while we got settled in to the ER with Doodle.

By the time they got his vitals checked, his temp was up to 103.5. He had not even been slightly warm before it all started.

They decided to swab for the flu and do an abdominal x-ray to check for obstructions. The gave him a shot for the vomitting and motrin to knock down the fever. All tests came back fine and the only thing they could find was an inflamed ear, possibly an ear infection or possibly just from his molars coming in (or both).

She suggested a round of antibiotics and I agreed to a shot before we left and took a prescription though I’m not sure we’ll do the 10 days of Amoxicillin (the doctor told me she’d be okay with him not doing it if his fever doesn’t continue and he doesn’t seem uncomfortable).

He was a perfectly normal guy when we got home after a long car nap. The fever didn’t come back, he’s been eating as normal as I’ll let him and is playing and bothering his sisters as usual.

I’m not the mom to overreact to the things. This is only our 3rd ER visits in over 12 years of our children’s lives. I’m the “here, have a wet paper towel” mom. I give ice for bumps and bandaids for bloody messes. I don’t rush to the ER for every bump and fall.

But the picture of my boy, motionless, naked and pale in the grass, much like the picture of Honeybun unconcious in my arms before her seizure started, will never go away.

I’ve been thinking the usual “what ifs.” Not that I could have changed the events leading up to the drive to the ER but more “what if we had been home when it happened, would I have still gone to the ER or waited it out?” I don’t know that i would have rushed in, but I do think the medicine he received helped immensely in getting him feeling better and for that reason, our visit was worth it.

And I’m just thankful this all went down (or out…) in the kitchen and not the carpeted bedrooms and that the owner was there (imagine the note: “Just wanted to let you know, my kid threw up all over your kitchen.  We tried our best to clean it up.  Nice house!”