ER Trip #1

Today was Alex's first trip to the emergency room.  It figures that soon after our insurance doubles the ER co-pay we have to make a trip.  Mainly it happened because I was being a bad mommy.  It happened in the morning, I had just gotten up (I get to sleep in on Saturday morning) and Greg was upstairs taking a shower.  I was in the the sun room with the kids where we have a large sectional sofa.  The kids had taken all the pillows off the sofa and placed them on the floor in case they fell off and they were running around on the sofa.  As I sat there and watched them I knew it wasn't going to end well and yet I did nothing.  Bad mommy.

Next thing you know Alex went off the couch head first and whacked his bottom lip on the too-close-coffee table.  As with most mouth wounds there was blood and lots of crying.  The cut under his lip looked deep so I thought I should take him to the emergency room.  I left the girls with Greg (he took them to the playground), bundled Alex in to the car, picked up my mom and headed to Beverly Hospital where they have a pediatrician in the ER.

They actually have a great ER there for kids.  There is a special room they can play in with toys, they have a triage room set up for kids and once on the inside they have fun murals on the wall with African animals all over them.  I spent some time taking Alex around to look at the animals while we waited for the pediatrician.  We were also able to get a DVD (Cars) for him to watch while we waited.  I was very impressed at how good Alex was through the whole thing.  It's amazing how much kids can surprise you.  This was late morning so he really needed a nap and food.  I had brought some snacks and milk which helped but he was so good.

In the end, after the Dr. prodded the wound, it was determined to be superficial and he didn't need stitches.  I was happy about that but it also made me feel like I had over reacted.  I really don't want to be one of those moms but I also don't want to take chances.  It's a tough line to walk.  So that was Alex's first trip the ER.  Lizzie has had two so far and Emily none at this point.  What a way to start a three day weekend!