ER

Well, that was an interesting day.
Started w/ meeting a friend for donuts in the morning on her bday. And it was pretty much thwarted from there. Reece whimpered in with his hip hurting. Heck, I didn't even knew he knew where his hip was. His pain kept him from eating his donut and kept squirming in his chair wanting to be held.

Something wasn't right. After tball, front yard swimming, and then back yard slip-n-sliding with some karate kicking, I thought may be it was just a sore body. But, then the nausea and dry heaves indicated something possibly more serious.

Made an appt w/ the ped and was thankful it was in the am when they take patients.I kind of knew what was going to happen. Doc took a look and said probably something minor, but had to rule out something more serious.

Hospital bound. We opted to hit Childrens at Legacy hoping it wouldn't be as crowded. It was a drive, but turns out that it was worth it.
Easy to park, impeccably clean, with very few people in the waiting area. I called this place a hotel for sick people. It really was nice.

We waited 2 minutes before getting evaluated and then put into a room.They brought us warm blankets and it was nice and cozy, as we waited for them to come get us for the xray and bloodwork.

Once the advil hit that I nabbed from the ped office, everything was so much better. Before then, I had carried and held a 42 lb boy around, who was terribly uncomfortable. I love being able to hold and carry my baby boy. I was so thankful I got to be the one with him.The next part was harder.
The x-rays made him nervous. Wanted mom VERY close. I wore a vest for protection and held his hand. But, he listened and stayed very still just as she asked.

He did good.

Then, a gal came in to 'talk' to him about the bloodwork. She was super nice and all, but it wasn't helping. She used great words that sounded not scary, but ultimately, Reece knew something was happening and was going to be scary and/or hurt and that was enough for him to be concerned...with tears.

She tried so hard, but I honestly wish they'd just asked me which strategy would work best. Just get in and get it done. Some talking, but not a lot of talking, messing around, and wait time before the actual event comes. That would have been my recommendation.

That's pretty much the opposite of what happened. It was fine, and I have no complaints. Poor guy just was so sad about getting poked. What's funny is that ultimately, he told Reece over and over that he'd tell him when, but then just did it when he wasn't expecting it. Not great at building trust. Reece said, "ow!", even though the guy nearly promised him it wouldn't hurt. Seems like they kind of went two different directions on strategy.

They put in a method to give him medicine if needed later. I originally didn't want them to, as I just had this peace that it really wasn't something big. But, it turned out that they spilled a little blood and had to immediately get more. I can't imagine if they'd had to stick him again. Glad they didn't.Next, we waited for the results. We watched tv, and I snuggled in the twin bed with him. We held hands and I was once again so thankful I go to be the one with him.Next, they came in with the results. Everything came out normal, and great. Good thing. Reece was ready for some graham crackers and juice.

Muscle strain was the diagnosis. That was an expensive muscle strain diagnosis, but also thankfully our first trip to the ER with a child. So grateful that it took 5 years to get there.

One of the funny things that the x-ray revealed was that Reece was constipated. That's a weird thing to see on an x-ray.

Back from the restroom where we attempted to relieve some of the x-ray reveals, Reece started swallowing weird. I was holding him, and I had a quick feeling I knew what was happening...and then it did. The juice and crackers made an appearance all over the floor in front of our room. Hmmm, just about to be discharged, that was odd.

We didn't see anybody for a while, that was odd for people that were about to be discharged. But, turns out, I was thankful. Reece regained his appetite and ate and ate and ate slowly, but surely. Not sure what that last trigger was, but that was it.

He regained his coloring and began making jokes. Glad I packed a big bag of pretzels, he exclaimed, "Look, it's a goat!"It sure did look like a goat!

After 3 1/2 hours, we were discharged.

We had more planned for today than 6 hours at the doc and hospital. But, I was so grateful I got to spend it with my boy. I loved being able to be with him through his first trip to the ER. And, I was thankful D stayed home with Zach.