We made it five and a half years as parents before this day, but yesterday our good luck streak ended, we had to take a child to the ER. It's no surprise it was Camden because that kid never holds still, is always into something, and is always trying to imitate his older siblings. As you can see though, he was happy through most of, so it wasn't too traumatizing for everyone involved.
Yesterday afternoon we had just finished lunch and were getting ready to leave to take Julia to afternoon kindergarten. I stopped to go to the bathroom before we left, and while I was in there I heard Camden start to cry. Not his ubiquitous Micah-just-stole-my-toy cry either. This was definitely an I'm-in-extreme-pain cry.
So I bolted out of the bathroom, pulling up my pants as I went, and ran over to Micah's room where I heard the commotion coming from. I saw Camden, screaming with pain, trying to stand by pulling himself up on the rocking chair. But he was obviously hurting and was too frenzied to stand on his own, so he fell back down and was writhing in pain on the floor by the time I got to him. Micah and Julia were both in there too watching him. I picked him up to try to comfort him and assess what happened.
"Camden fell down," Micah said. "He fell down from the boxes."
The picture below shows the boxes Micah was talking about that we were keeping in the the closet in Micah's room. I don't know exactly where Camden fell from, but I'm guessing it was probably the top of the highest box because the kids love to go into the closet and climb on them. Of course Camden wanted to be like his older siblings and climb them too.
The next part was the really scary part. Seconds after I picked up Camden, as he was still screaming his eyes suddenly rolled up and he went limp. I was shocked and immediately thought the worse. I knelt down on the floor, laid him down and ran into the other room to grab my phone to call an ambulance. But in the five seconds I was gone he regained consciousness on his own and was on his hands and knees about to stand up when I got back. That was such a relief to see!
I still didn't know if he was hurt worse than just a bump on the head though. He whimpered for a minute and then stopped and just wanted to snuggle with me. So I told Micah and Julia we were going to take Camden to see the doctor (planning on going to an Urgent Care). As we were leaving I decided to drop Julia off at school on the way, and while were at her school I had a thought that I should probably just call the pediatrician and see where they thought I should take him. The nurse there told me that since he lost consciousness I needed to take him to the ER, and since he was so young I should take him to Primary Children's Hospital.
So that's how Camden, Micah, and I ended up spending our afternoon in the ER waiting room at Primary Children's hospital. It was pretty busy (from the looks of it- a few kids with broken bones, a few sick kids, a few kids needing stitches on their face- for future reference those Mom's said their pediatrician said if a child needed stitches on their face Primary Children's was the best place to take them, and a few indistinguishable emergencies)
To top it all off, I've been trying to potty train Micah. I probably should have just put a diaper on him for this, but I just threw on a pair of plastic underwear over his normal underwear before we left the house. After about an hour and half in the ER waiting room he told me "the pee is coming."
We hurried over to the bathroom and I held him over the "big potty" in there for a while, but nothing happened. We hurried back to the waiting room. Ten minutes later he said the same thing. More hurrying up to wait on the potty, nothing, more hurrying up to wait in the waiting room. Then we got called back and while we were in the back room waiting for doctors and nurses Micah had me take him to the potty three more times and still nothing. He didn't end up going pee until we got back to our house around 6:00 pm. The amazing thing was he made it, his underwear was till dry. Potty training is a whole other saga for another day- er post.
The nice thing about waiting so long to see the doctor was by the time we saw someone and they asked how Camden had been acting since he fell I had three hours worth of observation to tell the doctor that he was acting perfectly normal. Camden checked out fine physically too, so there was no need for a CT scan.
They did say the loss of consciousness could have been from either the fall or from lack of oxygen because he was crying so hard, either were likely. But since he was behaving normally and didn't vomit at all, we walked away with orders to keep an eye on him for abnormal behavior-- and with a diagnosis and instructions for treatment of eczema for a weird rash I had noticed on Camden's belly and back a couple days ago and pointed out to the ER doctor while we were there. And also a giant goose egg on Camden's forehead. (Side note, apparently the forehead is the best place to hit for a head injury, it leads to serious injury much less often than impact on other parts of the head)
We did have a nice view of the valley from way up on the foothills, and a good view of the U of U's "U" on the mountain. Micah wanted me to point out to him where the train was because he is obsessed with trains and trucks. I sadly saw no trains.
We were at the hospital so long I had to call Robert to go pick up Julia from school and take her back
to work with him. She was only there half an hour and was disappointed she couldn't stay longer. She only had time to fit in a snack and drawing on the whiteboard time.
Camden's hospital admitting band, on his ankle.
I let him play with it when I cut it off him. You can see the big bump on his right forehead.
Potty training and an ER visit have made for an eventful mothering week. And a tiring mothering week. I ran into this verse while reading this week and had the thought that while this is most often referred to as a verse for missionary work, it is the perfect scripture for parents.
D&C 64:33 Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great.
I'm thankful to be able to be raising all three of my children even if it is difficult sometimes, and I'm thankful that tonight they are all tucked safely in their beds.
