Oh boy.
It was a loooooong night.
It started out fun.
We met a bunch of our favorite people [the Johnson's and Nerdin's] for some time at the park. We all headed to Wheeler Farm, pizzas in hand, and just enjoyed the warm summer night.
Before heading out, we all took some time playing on the grass and playground area.
Carter, not once, but TWICE had a hard time walking through the transition from grass to concrete sidewalk and bonked his head. The first one was just a little bonk, but the second one was HARD.
I was probably 20 feet away from him and ran over after I watched it play out in slow motion. His little head whipped back as he fell, then swung forward with a ton of force hitting straight into the concrete.
A little panicked, I ran over to assess the damage. Jeff, who was probably 200 feet away came running over too. He said he could hear the thud from where he was. Surprisingly, there was nothing! Not a mark, not a scratch, not a goose egg. Carter cried for a second, then was over it and back to playing. Everything normal. I was completely floored. He's gotten goose eggs from merely grazing the corner of a table, I definitely expected some damage from his hit.
So we finished our night and headed home. Three hours later Carter threw up. Now if you know Kaeden, you know he is a champion puker. Kid just throws up. Doesn't really need a reason. Well....in the last couple of months, Carter is showing that he might follow in his big bros footsteps.
When Carter threw up this time, I didn't think much of it. I figured he gagged a little on some reflux which then sent all of the contents on his tummy all over me and the floor. Yucky, but I wish I didn't have to say, something I've become completely used to.
I laid him down for the night, and didn't think too much more of it.
Few hours later I wake up to Carter whining in the middle of the night. I go get him, give him a small bottle to soothe him back to sleep, and again, he throws up everywhere.
Concerned, Jeff and I sat at 4 a.m. contemplating what to do.
While it's not unusual for our kids to throw up, the concerning thing is that Carter had absolutely no other symptoms. No fever, no fussiness, nothing.
It was one of those times that you question yourself as a parent. Do you go in to have it checked out only to be told later that it was nothing, and you kinda feel like one of those first time parents that show up to the doctor's office any time your kid sneezes? Or do you wait it out to see if something more develops?
Remembering that he had hit his head earlier in the night, I had a sick feeling in my stomach. I told Jeff that I didn't want to be one of those people who were like, "He hit his head but was fine." Then hours later have him die from some sort of brain injury.
A call to our pediatrician's emergency line, and they agreed. Anything with the head, they wanted us go to Primary's to have checked out.
So that's what we did. We arrived around 4:30 a.m., and got into a room quickly. On the way up there Carter threw up again, and then while waiting in the room kept convulsing and throwing up bile and foam since his little body had nothing left in it.
I figured it being such an odd hour, we wouldn't have too long to wait. When we got to our room, a movie was starting, and I told Jeff, "I hope we are done before this is over." Well... let's just say we had the pleasure of watching three movies.
Apparently things are kind of short staffed during the odd hours. Add onto that a few true emergencies coming in, and we kept getting bumped. At one point I saw Life Flight crews walk by with an incubator and a family quickly following behind. While I was tired and agitated with how long it was taking, I knew I was extremely grateful that we weren't sitting here under those sort of circumstances.
When we explained to the doctor why we were there, she immediately became concerned that Carter was displaying a delayed reaction to hitting his head. She explained that although a brain injury from any type of fall that occurred at the height of the child was rare, his symptoms were proving otherwise. So a CT scan was ordered.
We got him through the CT with toys and bubbles, and then waited. Luckily those results came back negative. Since Carter had stopped throwing up, the staff had us feed him some apple juice and then observed. He held everything down, and 6 hours after our arrival, we were released.
Tired, but relieved. Baffled, but okay.
And so was our first trip to the ER with Carter.
We got home about 10 am, and by about 4 pm, in retrospect, could tell that we had our regular little boy back.
That night we had reservations at the Grand America to celebrate our six year anniversary, but since we were still iffy as to whether or not he was okay, we decided to give our room to some friends. We figured that if we were just going to be sitting around with the kids, we'd rather do it in the comfort of our home, and not some swanky hotel.
Our nighttime plans of a pricey downtown dinner, and luxurious hotel accommodations turned into a night at home with cheap Chinese takeout.
But Carter was okay, and that's all that mattered.
First trip to the ER, but with this little bruiser, I'm sure it won't be our last.
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