Not for the weak of heart!
Had to visit the children’s emergency room today for 4 hours. YES, everything is okay. It was just a precaution. This is what happened:
Daddy brought the kids home today from camping and visiting with Nanna and Pappa in the White Mountains. He arrived home around 1ish in the afternoon. Baby needed to be fed and Daddy needed to take a shower. I was watching and cuddling with Zane (the 16 month old) since I hadn’t seen him for two days, but my next stop with him was to get food since he hadn’t eaten since 9 am. Well, Dad jumped in the shower and forgot a wash cloth and asked me to get him one. Which was no problem. I left Zane on our mattress which is lying on the floor right now while we wait for our new bed set to arrive in the next week. Zane was playing with an empty water bottle that I had just finished drinking. And he’s been known to be entertained with them for 2 or 3 minutes. So I walked 10-12 feet away and in just that short time he fell off the mattress face down. Now he’s taken tumbles like that from higher up, so I didn’t think anything of it. I scooped him up while he was mid cry and he got one big one out on my shoulder. Then he went silent, so I pulled him back to check and see if he was over it already because sometimes that has happened. But he was mid cry again.
At this point I was sure he was going in to a breath-holding spell. What’s that? Well, Alex my oldest was notorious for having them at this age. They scared the crap out of me when he first did them. And Zane is the right age for when kids start doing them. So I didn’t freak out because I was familiar with them and I’ve been watching him to see if he’d start doing them too. I blew in his face but he didn’t react like Alex used to. He went limp in my arms at that point and I just held him carefully. I rubbed his chest, he didn’t respond. I lightly shook his shoulders like I was waking him from a nap and called his name. He didn’t respond. I carefully set him down on the floor and tried again to wake him both movement and calling his name. He didn’t respond. So at that point I started to get worried because I recall if he’s out 30 seconds or more, that’s cause for concern. So I called out and said “Mike, the baby passed out!” So he jumps out of the shower and comes into the bedroom to do exactly as I did. Again he doesn’t respond for say another 5-10 seconds and then he wakes up and starts to cry. While passed out, he of course lost all of his color. And his crying at this point is very weak and he’s acting lethargic which wasn’t typical for him when he’s hurting. Made me worried!
So that was scary. And of course, I called on a Sunday to my pediatrician on call number to report and advise with them because I was sure all this happened within 30 seconds and he was out at least that long. And I want to make sure Zane was okay. By time I looked up the number called and explained everything and then got a call back from the nurse practitioner it had been about 15 minutes and in that time Zane’s color started to slowly return and he started acting normal for him. He wasn’t delayed with any motion, he even smiled and cuddled.
But they reaffirmed that if he had been out for 30 seconds or more it was their standard that he should be taken down to the hospital and checked out. So that’s why I ended up in the emergency room for 4 hours today. And after explaining the whole thing another 3 times, one to the intake nurse, another to the doctor’s nurse, and then to the doctor who said he needs to stay for 4 hours for observation, she said he didn’t need a scan unless he started acting funny. She also checked his eyes for normal reaction and looked in his ears. Everything was normal.
So I did my best to entertain a hungry, bored baby for 3.5 hours at that point. When they discharged him I fed him the food I grabbed while on my way out to the hospital. But he’s good. I still need to watch him for anything “not normal” for him and check back with his pediatrician in the next 3 days.
Fun times, eh? Parenthood isn’t for the weak of heart.
I say this after having had to take him in this last February to have a upper endoscopy and watching him be put under anesthesia. Twitching and movement and all. Which they were surprised it didn’t phase me cause most parents are un-nerved by watching their children be put under. Why? Because I observe that when he falls to sleep he’s already a twitchy little bunny as it is. He jerks and twitches and wiggles while he’s just in the first stage of sleep. That’s actually pretty typical for him. hehehe. After all the stuff I’ve been through with my kids, well… it could be a whole lot worse! A 3.5 hour wait is a cake walk.
=D
Daddy brought the kids home today from camping and visiting with Nanna and Pappa in the White Mountains. He arrived home around 1ish in the afternoon. Baby needed to be fed and Daddy needed to take a shower. I was watching and cuddling with Zane (the 16 month old) since I hadn’t seen him for two days, but my next stop with him was to get food since he hadn’t eaten since 9 am. Well, Dad jumped in the shower and forgot a wash cloth and asked me to get him one. Which was no problem. I left Zane on our mattress which is lying on the floor right now while we wait for our new bed set to arrive in the next week. Zane was playing with an empty water bottle that I had just finished drinking. And he’s been known to be entertained with them for 2 or 3 minutes. So I walked 10-12 feet away and in just that short time he fell off the mattress face down. Now he’s taken tumbles like that from higher up, so I didn’t think anything of it. I scooped him up while he was mid cry and he got one big one out on my shoulder. Then he went silent, so I pulled him back to check and see if he was over it already because sometimes that has happened. But he was mid cry again.
At this point I was sure he was going in to a breath-holding spell. What’s that? Well, Alex my oldest was notorious for having them at this age. They scared the crap out of me when he first did them. And Zane is the right age for when kids start doing them. So I didn’t freak out because I was familiar with them and I’ve been watching him to see if he’d start doing them too. I blew in his face but he didn’t react like Alex used to. He went limp in my arms at that point and I just held him carefully. I rubbed his chest, he didn’t respond. I lightly shook his shoulders like I was waking him from a nap and called his name. He didn’t respond. I carefully set him down on the floor and tried again to wake him both movement and calling his name. He didn’t respond. So at that point I started to get worried because I recall if he’s out 30 seconds or more, that’s cause for concern. So I called out and said “Mike, the baby passed out!” So he jumps out of the shower and comes into the bedroom to do exactly as I did. Again he doesn’t respond for say another 5-10 seconds and then he wakes up and starts to cry. While passed out, he of course lost all of his color. And his crying at this point is very weak and he’s acting lethargic which wasn’t typical for him when he’s hurting. Made me worried!
So that was scary. And of course, I called on a Sunday to my pediatrician on call number to report and advise with them because I was sure all this happened within 30 seconds and he was out at least that long. And I want to make sure Zane was okay. By time I looked up the number called and explained everything and then got a call back from the nurse practitioner it had been about 15 minutes and in that time Zane’s color started to slowly return and he started acting normal for him. He wasn’t delayed with any motion, he even smiled and cuddled.
But they reaffirmed that if he had been out for 30 seconds or more it was their standard that he should be taken down to the hospital and checked out. So that’s why I ended up in the emergency room for 4 hours today. And after explaining the whole thing another 3 times, one to the intake nurse, another to the doctor’s nurse, and then to the doctor who said he needs to stay for 4 hours for observation, she said he didn’t need a scan unless he started acting funny. She also checked his eyes for normal reaction and looked in his ears. Everything was normal.
So I did my best to entertain a hungry, bored baby for 3.5 hours at that point. When they discharged him I fed him the food I grabbed while on my way out to the hospital. But he’s good. I still need to watch him for anything “not normal” for him and check back with his pediatrician in the next 3 days.
Fun times, eh? Parenthood isn’t for the weak of heart.
I say this after having had to take him in this last February to have a upper endoscopy and watching him be put under anesthesia. Twitching and movement and all. Which they were surprised it didn’t phase me cause most parents are un-nerved by watching their children be put under. Why? Because I observe that when he falls to sleep he’s already a twitchy little bunny as it is. He jerks and twitches and wiggles while he’s just in the first stage of sleep. That’s actually pretty typical for him. hehehe. After all the stuff I’ve been through with my kids, well… it could be a whole lot worse! A 3.5 hour wait is a cake walk.
=D