First trip to the ER

My poor girl now has her first trip to the Emergency Room behind her. It was March 21st and I had worked a full 12-13 hour shift and had to be back the next morning for another. We were doing our normal "between shift" routine of quick bath/shower and night night when Lily decided she was going to start puking uncontrollably. She was throwing up and coughing and couldn't seem to catch her breath so we started to panic. Jeff said we needed to go NOW. So we jumped in the car and Jeff turned on the hazard lights and we went to the ER at record speed while Lily puked all over herself, her carseat and me. She has had problems with spit up before but I can honestly say she has never all out thrown up until this time. It was gross. Yes I'm a nurse and can handle just about any body goo but puke just sends me over the top every time...even with my own child.

We got to the ER and within a few minutes they were doing Lily's vital signs. They couldn't get a blood pressure and her sat probe said her heart rate was 198 while she was screaming her head off. After that she started to calm down and the puking just stopped. Of course we were already both covered so they gave us a mini hospital gown to put on her. The gown swallowed my little petite baby girl. She looked so pitiful. Just wimpering and wanting to snuggle with mommy and daddy.

We spent quite a while in the waiting room with the masses of kids screaming with their siblings running like mad. There were some being ridden around in a little wagon for entertainment while another little family ate McDonald's off the ER waiting area floor. Ewww. Mostly I could see that there are a ton of people who use the ER as their walk in clinic/doctor's office. It was not a pleasant experience.

When we finally got back to a room, the nurse came in and asked us to force feed Lily iced pedialyte. Well...this child doesn't drink cold anything. I was trying to squirt it in her mouth with a syringe and all that did was cause another screaming fit. No Pedialyte for Lily. The doctor came in, listened to her lungs, looked in her ears and said she had no idea what it could be but wanted to get a chest xray to rule out foreign body. So the second worst part of the night ensued. It took me and Jeff and about 4 10 lb sandbags to hold Lily still enough to get the xray. She screamed and made a horrified face like none I have seen on her before. It was AWFUL. I was bawling like a baby, she was crying out of control and we were all just exhausted beyond belief.


Finally, a little before 1am, they released us and just said we should watch her. Duh. She was a little puny the next day with Daddy who stayed home with her but she's been fine since. Lesson learned though...only go to the ER if there are blue lips or serious pain involved.