Our first ever trip to the ER

I have been a mom for nearly eight years... and I have never had to go to the ER for my kids. Until a couple of weeks ago. No broken bones or anything like that, thank goodness... but it was, of course, a weekend and the pediatrician's office was closed. Violet was complaining of a headache. Not your normal, everyday one, though. All the symptoms of a migraine... sensitivity to light and sound, strong, localized pain, and vomiting. She has had migraines twice before in her life,and usually we just let her sleep them off. Well, this time, for whatever reason, she wasn't able to sleep it off. She woke up in more pain than before. I tried to give her medicine but she would throw it up within 10 minutes.

I called the nurse hotline and said I was planning on taking her to Quick Care. They told me to just take her to the ER. Ack! So Rick took her to the new ER at the brand new hospital that just opened up down the street. I guess not that many people know about it because when we went in there, it was EMPTY. We got into triage immediately and soon Violet was in her very own room, complete with her own adjustable bed, TV remote with cool built-in speaker, and jammies with a butt flap in the back.

The docs tested her for a bunch of stuff and stuck some needles into her to draw blood and give her fluids, since she hadn't eaten all day. She was SO BRAVE (always has been) and didn't even flinch, much less cry, when they inserted her IV.


After just a bit of fluids and pain meds (can you believe they gave her MORPHINE for the headache?!!?), she was MUCH better. They did a strep test and that came back positive - so she had strep. And apparently one side effect can be migraine-like headaches! Who knew?

We had to stay in the room for a few hours waiting for the various tests and fluids and everything to be done... and after her diagnosis they gave her some IV antibiotics to kick her into gear. And finally, she ahd to go to the bathroom... so we walked to the potty with her little bootie peeking through her ER jammies...
And then back in bed till they let us out. We arrived at 5 pm and it was just after 10 pm when we left. You can tell she was ready to go... she really started goofing off at the end.
DO NOT DRINK THE URINE SAMPLE!!!!
It's not my-in... must be URINE! HAHAHAHA

Violet's reward for being a good girl was a cheeseburger happy meal from McDonald's. Thank goodness for 24 hour drive thru's!! :)

So our first (and hopefully, last) trip to the ER was pretty decent. And Violet was pretty much all better by the time we left. A week of antibiotics and she was completely fine. YAY for modern medicine!!