A day in the ER!

B and I spent the whole day in the ER at children's hospital today. He was riding his scooter in the park and rode into the sand like he always does. Although he was wearing a helmet, he face-planted into a boulder (why do they put boulders on a playground?!). Poor little Bubs!

There was so much blood that I could not tell what was bleeding.  I put him in his car seat and jumped in the car with the help of all of my Stroller Strides moms and headed off to Rady Children's Hospital.  He screamed the whole way there!  And he is still facing backwards, so I would only catch glimpses of him in the mirror as I drove 80+ down the freeway.  I wish that hospital was not so far away!  

Once we got there, he stopped crying and was a trooper!  He played with his little green tractor while we waited (thank goodness it was in my purse!), and they saw us pretty fast.  He was amazing!  He let 4 different people stick their fingers in his mouth to check for injuries, and didn't even wince.  He sliced his gum on the upper teeth all the way across and his upper frenulum is completely gone (the thing we had clipped when he was a baby).  We saw the doctor right away, but he wanted us to see the dentist.  She came over and said one of his teeth were loose.  

We had to go over to the Dental Clinic for X-rays.  They took the X-rays three different times, and B was a champ!  This picture is of B playing with his stickers while we wait for the X-rays.  No damage!  And B let them stick their fingers in his mouth a few more times without so much as a whine.  Such a big boy!

They wanted us to see the oral surgeon because they thought B might need stitches.  Unfortunately, he wasn't going to be available until after 4:00, and it was only 2:00.  We had been there since 11:30, and they wouldn't let me give B anything to eat or drink, so neither one of us had had anything since breakfast.  They were worried that he might need stitches, and if so, general aneasthetic.  They checked us out of dental and told us to go back to the ER to wait.  

I couldn't let B go any longer without a drink, at least, so on our walk back to the ER, I stopped at the McDonald's (why only McDonald's at a children's hospital?!) and bought him an orange Hi-C.  He slurped it down pretty quick!  He wanted more, but I was afraid of what was come, so I staved him off for a while.

We checked back into the ER and waited.  And waited.  And waited.  By 4:30, he was in full-blown meltdown.  He was hungry.  He was thirsty.  And he had no nap.  And I was still alone with him, so I couldn't eat or drink either because it was too crual to do it in front of him.  He was crying hysterically, and the only thing I could do was hold him and pace.  After an hour, they checked us into our own private room (I think they were sick of hearing him cry!).  

At 5:45, we finally saw the oral surgeon.  B had calmed down from exhaustion, so again, no tears when he was being examined.  No stitches!  Yay!  Just mushy foods for a week and no straws or hard sippy cups.  B actually fell asleep on my shoulder while the oral surgeon was giving me instructions.  He just couldn't stay awake for another minute!  Poor little B!

Dada got there just as we were waiting to be discharged.  We stopped at McDonald's and bought B a soft-serve, as that was the only mushy food available!  We also stopped into the gift shop to get him a treat for being such a good boy all day.  He picked a small Elmo and a tractor.  Such a crazy day, but we think it might be the first of many trips to the ER with our B!