Emergency and Parenting 101

So, I was hoping I would be able to spend a few days catching up the posts. You know reporting on all of the places we visited and people we interacted with during our first few day here but then we had a disproportionate event occur last night, a Black Swan perhaps. We were grocery shopping at Kroger, a southern chain grocery store, which is located in a strip mall, along with every other kind of store, pawn shop, tanning, FedEx, etc. Everything is in a strip of some sort down here.

Anyway, Henry did not want to ride in the front of the cart. So we let him in the big area of the cart but only if he would sit. He has done that before at Target and Fareway. But the carts (or buggies as they are called here) was shallower than those he had been in before. I am getting sick to my stomach typing this. Henry would not sit down, Max went to grab him to sit down and Henry backed away and pushed Max away and went over the back of the cart. Henry landed on his head. Henry cried immediately. We walked to the end of the aisle with Max holding him, trying to calm him. Max handed him to me. Henry vomited. I looked down the aisle for a bathroom sign. Henry vomited again. I moved very quickly to the bathroom. Henry vomited yet again. I wiped off the puke as quickly as possible. I left the bathroom with wipes and Henry to find Max. Henry needed to go to the hospital.

We rushed to the car, leaving behind a cart with groceries and maybe a little puke. Buckled up and tried to find the nearest hospital on the map. It is in the next town over. Max drove and weaved through traffic very quickly. I was in between crying and trying to keep Henry awake. Henry was gray and was not responding to my questions. He did not even get excited,, nor really recognize the railroad tracks we drove over.

We finally made it to the hospital but had trouble figuring out where the ER was. We found it finally, Max dropped me off with Henry and parked the car. I ran with Henry in my arms into the ER. The receptionist was very calm, took our information and asked what happened and what was wrong. I was nearly hysterical at this point as Henry kept closing his eyes and had not said a word since vomiting. The receptionist tried to calm me and gave us a cool wash cloth to put on his head. Max returned to wait with us. I explained to the receptionist how odd Henry seemed, I told him right before he fell, he was so active and talkative, Max and I had trouble keeping up. Henry just laid in my arms, quite, still. I was so incredibly scared.

I feel the need to mention that this is the only ER serving Auburn and Opelika, a population of nearly 100k people. The ER was packed with all kinds of people. It was like an ER out of a movie. It was nothing like Bryan LGH in Lincoln, clean and quite and few people or Mary Greely in Ames, IA. This ER was crazy busy. And there were so many babies in mothers' arms looking nearly asleep or asleep. I kept thinking, we can't wait here like this, my baby needs attention and needs it now. The receptionist came over at just the right time to let me know the Triage nurse would see him quickly. And she did. The triage nurse asked us what happened and watched Henry's belly while he breathed. I was so scared watching his belly. I was so worried I would not get to hear him say "MaMa" or "Dada" again. He looked so gray.

Then we, of course, had to give them our insurance, which is graduate student coverage. It is not great in-network and will likely be worse out of network. I love America, where we have the right to shit insurance, no insurance, or not going to the doctor ever. That ranting aside. We gave them our information explaining all the while that we had just moved here.

We went back to the ER and waited. I cried holding my precious baby, who had lost consciousness by this time. The receptionist kept bringing me tissues and telling me it would not be long, they just needed a free room. Max was near tears. Finally, after a few long minutes we were called back to a room. The room was divided into four spaces by curtains, like in the movies. We could hear people in discomfort in the other spaces and their machines.

The nurse who was with us, Deanne, told us they were going to start and IV and then do a CT scan. Henry was still out. Henry was not responding to his name or being tickled or tapped. Deanne went to find the doctor. The doctor came and was so sweet. He looked over Henry while I held him. He looked in his mouth and shined a light on his eyes after forcing the lids open. Henry's eyes dilated but he did not wake up. The doctor told the nurse that Henry should have the CT before the IV while he was "asleep." The doctor then told me and Max that it was likely a concussion and this point Henry would maybe need to stay overnight for observation. But they needed the CT scan to rule out hemorrhaging or other bad things.

The doctor and nurse left. Max and I were left with Henry, quiet and still, in that little 4 by 6 curtained area. We were both crying and very scared at this point. Not very long after the nurse returned and tried to make us feel better by telling us about her 4 and 6 year old's shenanigans, which included the 6 year old driving a riding lawn-mower over the 4 year old who survived with just a few, minor cuts on his back. Before she could tell us another story the CT technician came to escort us to the room. The nurse wanted to follow as Henry was still unconscious.

Like in all parenting movies something else was bound to happen; as we were leaving the room I bumped Henry's head against the door handle! He woke up then and started crying. I felt so terrible! The nurse told us it was good he responded to pain, if he had not we would have then needed to be concerned. So with Henry finally awake we made it to the CT room. Henry started getting really worked up when I laid him on the table. Henry was crying so hard his face had regained color and was red! He was screaming "Mama" and "Dada." He fought the CT tech who was holding his head down throughout the scan. Finally it was over and the CT tech told us the images looked good but the radiologist would need to tell us that.

Then we went back to the curtain room. Henry was still awake and looking around. He even looked at Deanne when she said his name. Max brought us some sprite and ice and Henry drank out of the straw even. Henry then started asking for ice to chew. The doctor came pretty quickly and said the scan did not show any bleeding. He told us to stay for an hour and see how Henry was then.

During the next hour, Henry ate two cups of and asked us about everything in sight at least twice. Max and I were so relieved he was returning to his normal, curious state. We were released after 8. On our way out, there were about 30 people hanging out outside the ER entrance. Henry then saw the moon, we told him it was made out of cheese. He was very excited about the moon. He kept pointing at the night sky and saying' "moon!"

We all still exhausted from what happened. Max and I now have multiple plans for keeping Henry safe when go shopping, none o f which include carts. we also discussed that we do not want to try to blame ourselves or the other for what happened.

That is all I have for right now.