Our first trip to the ER...and tips to help you through yours!

One of the worst things about this wonderful job as a mommy is witnessing our children getting hurt and then having to make the decision on what to do! Do you give the boo-boo a kiss and put an imaginary band-aid on it? Do you call your pediatrician and go to the next available opening? Do you drop everything and rush to the ER in your sweatpants and un-brushed hair? Unfortunately, all I can tell you is that when the time comes your instincts will kick in and you will know. And if you are ever unsure, err on the side of caution and take your little one to be seen. It will put your mind at ease (trust me).

Please note that I am not a medical professional; just a mommy with experience and a blog to share on 🙂

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Our first trip to the ER

Last weekend Baby L was in the bathtub and slipped and fell (he was fully supervised). He hit his eye at just the right angle on the side of the tub and started bleeding a lot. My husband rushed to me and told me what happened. My first reaction was to try to calm down Baby L, assess the situation, and figure out where the bleeding was coming from. Obviously Baby L was upset but he started to calm down a bit (because we remained calm; or tried at least). Then I saw that the bleeding was coming from his eyelid and had started to slow down a bit. At this point we had to make a decision; urgent care or ER? My gut told me that he would at the very least need some glue to close the wound but we clearly weren’t going to try to evaluate the wound ourselves. We decided to go to the Urgent Care Center downtown that has a linked emergency room right across the street. My thought was in case it was worse than we thought, we could just go across the street and not waste any more time.

What to bring

So now we had a naked toddler and two stressed out parents to try to get out the door ASAP! Here’s what we brought:

Baby L picked out his favorite stuffed animal
Blanket (it is December after all)
Diaper bag (ours is always fully stocked and ready to go)
Sippy cup and a few snacks (you never know how long you will be waiting)
Pacifier (we are currently weaning but this situation caused for the most soothing you can imagine)
Ice pack

So while I was getting Baby L dressed and ready to go, my husband was (frantically) gathering the rest of the items to bring with us.

The waiting…

The incident happened around 7pm and we made it to urgent care a little before 7:30pm. We got called back around 7:45 and the head nurse checked his eye immediately to see if they would be able to mend his eye. Sadly she told us that he would more than likely need stitches and that we needed to go across the street to the ER. We then drove across the street and my husband let us out at the entrance while he parked and since we were just at urgent care, Baby L was already checked in and sped up the initial intake process. We got into a room around 8:15. And then we waited…

The items we brought from home (his blanket and stuffed animal) were great because they were familiar and helped to calm him. We had nurses come in periodically but ultimately we were waiting for the wound care specialist to make his way over. In the meantime we watched “Frosty the Snowman” on TV and he watched some movies on our phones. The specialist came in around 9:15-9:30pm and explained to us what would happen. They weren’t able to use the numbing gel on him because it was so close to his eyeball; instead they had to give him a shot in his eyelid.

The worst part

So now the specialist had to have a “helper” swaddle Baby L and hold him down, so that he could perform the delicate task of stitching his eye. As he cleaned it, it was clear how deep the gash was. Ugh, this was absolute torture for everyone. My sweet baby screamed the entire time and yelled for both myself and his daddy nonstop. We were right there next to him but the poor little thing was going through a pretty traumatic ordeal.

I reacted way differently than I thought I would. I am not a squeamish person at all but as they were stitching him up I really thought I was going to pass out. In fact, I had to sit down a few times because I was started to see black and could feel my legs getting weak. I don’t know if this is because I’m still in early pregnancy or not, but I tried to push through it as best I could because my baby needed me.

After what seemed like an eternity, they were finished. They ended up having to do 2 separate sets of stitches. After Baby L got a Popsicle (and they brought me a Gatorade), you would have never known what had just happened. He was acting just fine. Then we were given our instructions on how to care for his eye and were finally sent home around 10pm. So the whole ordeal was done in 3 hours. We were exhausted.

Why urgent care first?

We decided to go to urgent care first because to us this was a non life threatening medical issue. In the past we have gone to urgent care a handful of times, mostly because it’s been on the weekend when our pediatrician’s office is closed. Baby L was walking fine, his vision was okay, not vomiting, and the bleeding had stopped. All signs that urgent care should be our first stop. I was glad that we chose this particular one because they are run by the same network as our pediatrician, we are already in their system and didn’t have any additional paperwork to fill out. Plus, like I said before, the ER was right across the street.

Another factor to keep in mind is that the copay for an urgent care facility is significantly less than the ER; but like I said, if you are ever in doubt, err on the side of caution! ER wait times are notoriously longer as well, especially if the situation is clearly not life threatening.

Prepare yourself before an Emergency

Find out where your nearest Urgent Care Center and Emergency Room is: enter both of these locations in your phone. Make sure to include the phone number, address and be familiar with the hours. You may also want to make a drive to each location (if you aren’t familiar with it), that way when/if the time comes, you can get there by the most direct route.
Always keep your diaper bag ready to go: this is a good practice for day-to-day. If you’re anything like me, you are always running late anyway, so this is one less thing to have to worry about. Keep your diapers, wipes, spare clothes, and whatever else you keep in your bag fresh and stocked.
Keep your insurance card, allergies, pediatrician info handy: you are definitely going to need this info so make sure you keep it readily available; either in your child’s diaper bag or your wallet.