None of my kids have ever had to go to the ER . . . until today. We were downstairs playing this morning. Hope and Aliyah were jumping/running around on the trampoline and Samuel was kicking a soccer ball. The girls were having a blast until Aliyah backed up and fell off of the trampoline onto her upper back/head/neck. I tried to grab her but I didn't make it in time. She screamed for a good 10-15 minutes. When I finally got her calmed down, all she wanted to do was sleep. That made me nervous! The accident happened around 11am so I wasn't sure if she was falling asleep just because she was ready for a nap or because she had a head injury. It was a little early for a nap but she was awake early this morning. I kept waking her up but she was still pretty lethargic and just acting strange. She wouldn't let me set her down and would cry uncontrollably if I tried to get her to sit up, stand up, or walk. I was a little concerned and wanted to play it safe so I called Daryl and told him what had happened. He came home from work right away. As soon as he saw Aliyah he packed a diaper bag and told me to go to the ER. The whole "I'm a horrible Mom" train of thought was playing through my head and I prayed the whole way there that she would be okay. They got us back into a room quickly and after screaming through triage, Aliyah promptly fell asleep in my arms. Our nurse got a warm blanket to wrap her in and there we sat. The doctor came in and quickly looked her over (she screamed through the whole exam and then fell asleep again after he was done) and decided to give her some tylenol and watch her for a couple of hours. He wanted to avoid (if at all possible) doing a CT scan and instead wanted to wait for her to wake up and then see if she was less irritable and acting more like herself. So the good part of the whole ordeal was that I got to snuggle with Aliyah for 2 hours straight without any interruptions (except when the PCA tried to get her vitals and Aliyah made it very clear to him that she did not want him touching her). The bad part of the whole ordeal was that I paid the ER $50+ to do what I could have done at home - give her tylenol and watch her closely. Grrrrr!!! When she woke up from her nap she was ready to have a snack and play with the fun toys that the child life specialist had brought to her. I was so relieved that she was okay but so frustrated that I brought her in to the ER in the first place. This was a morning that I wished I could have started over from the beginning!
It was a good reminder about how easily accidents can happen and how quickly things can change. The whole incident definitely made me hold my kids tighter, squeeze them harder, give them more hugs, and tell them a million times that I love them throughout the rest of the day!!
Saying "cheese!!!" Ready to head home!
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