Ian's first trip to the ER

Yesterday around 6:15pm while Nadia was having soccer practice, I was sitting on the bench of a metal picnic table. Oliver was sitting on the table, and I had my arms near him to catch him if he toppled. Ian was standing on the ground near me and suddenly started crying. I turned and saw he had collided with the bench. At first I thought he hit his teeth, but after I picked him up and saw the blood on his hand I then saw he was bleeding under his chin. I used some tissues from my coat pocket to try to apply pressure and slow the bleeding, and I asked if there was a First Aid kit nearby. Someone brought me a bandaid. I was going to take Nadia from the practice a few minutes early, but the practice ended at that same time. I called Paul on the cell phone and asked him to have our first aid supplies ready so we could clean Ian's wound as soon as we got home. We used soap and water and some antiseptic spray. I would have been content to stick a bandaid on it and call it good, but Paul thought the laceration was deep enough to warrant stitches. I suggested we take Ian across the street to our neighbor who is a nurse. He agreed with Paul that we needed to take him to the ER. I called the Pediatrician to make sure they weren't open (it was 7pm at this point), and the doctor on call said we should take him to the ER. I called the local hospital to see if they are considered "in- network" by our current insurance, but at that time of night the billing department is closed so I decided to take him to the bigger hospital a few minutes farther from our house that is definitely "in-network" because it's owned by the same company as our insurance.

We arrived at 7:45pm, and it took 35 minutes to get through registration and triage. Ian fell asleep in my arms at 7:55, and the triage nurse was able to take his temperature and blood pressure and such without waking him up. We then sat in the waiting room for 45 minutes before we were called back to one of the "Fast Track" rooms (truly a misnomer). Ian slept in my arms until 10pm. He then was awake for about 45 minutes. At 10:30pm a Resident put something on his chin to numb it, and Ian fell back asleep at 10:45. She came back at 11:05 to clean it and also put some DermaPlast (glue) in the laceration. We walked out of the hospital at 11:25 and pulled into the driveway at 11:55pm. Our adventure lasted a total of 4hr 40min. If Paul wasn't dirty from work, I would have asked him to take Ian. The next time one of our kids needs to go to the ER at night, he can have the honors as I am not a night owl. Over the past 12 years I don't think I've ever driven a car anywhere near that late. Usually I try not to drive past 9pm as I am prone to falling asleep behind the wheel. Maybe they should make DermaPlast available OTC to save us a lot of time and money.

The good news is that we've been parents for almost five years, and this was our first time taking a child to the ER. I'm hoping five more pass before our next trip. Ian actually was in an ER when he was five weeks old as we brought him with us when I was bleeding badly due to the retained placenta. That time we skipped registration and triage (at the local hospital), as they could see the blood pouring off the wheelchair onto the floor. Over the past 21 years I've only been a patient in an ER twice - the first time was when I was single and fell on some ice outside my apartment building and the second was in January 2010. The other "unplanned" trips to the hospital all took me straight to Labor and Delivery at three different hospitals. Over the past 12 years, Paul has made three trips to an ER. The first two times I took him to the Pottsville Hospital for an infected cyst in his forehead (he did end up getting admitted to the hospital the second time), and the third trip was to the ER at the Bloomsburg Hospital when he got a piece of metal in his eye at work. I've spent a lot of time in the hospital we were at last night - I've seen the RE, MFM, hematologist, and OB/GYN, all three kids were in their NICU, Paul saw one of their cardiologists and neurologists, Ian has seen their allergists, dieticians, urologist, and feeding team, Nadia and Oliver saw their opthamologist, and Oliver was there for OT/PT, but last night was my first trip to the ER at this hospital. I actually wasn't sure where it was located! I found that ironic as I walked was wheeled through the ER at the hospital in Harriburg many times last summer en route to the MFM clinic.

While we were waiting in the room, Ian spotted an ultrasound machine in the hallway (the doctor used it on the patient next to us who had a hematoma on his thigh). Ian said to me, "We can see the baby! No, we can't because Oliver is at home with Daddy." I was really surprised that he recognized that piece of equipment and remembered being present for an ultrasound last year. Ian's trip to the hospital made it into Nadia's journal. Today she wrote, "IAN HURT HIS CHIN AND WENT TO THE DOCTOR." Obviously his trip to the doctor was a big deal to her (albeit she was at home asleep most of the time we were away)  because up until today all her journal entries were about a princess (Cinderella, Belle, Ariel, etc.) or orphan Annie.

I've certainly been awake at 12am many times over the past 4.75 years due to the kids, but I honestly cannot remember the laat time I didn't get any sleep before midnight. I think we'd have to go back more than 20 years, and it's happened very few times in my life. Paul helped out in two regards. First, he did the dishes for me while I was at the hospital, and secondly he offered to help me out with Oliver whenever he got up (after I nursed him). I really appreciated Paul's help, and the nap I got this afternoon also really helped, as I was really dragging this morning. His wound was bleeding a little bit more today. To be honest, if I had to do it over again, I would skip the trip to the ER, but hopefully it was worthwhile.