ER visit #2

Yes, that's right, we made another visit to the ER Saturday night! That would be TWICE in one month (and twice EVER!). You can read about the first visit here.

Last night Isaiah, Levi and I had just finished eating dinner (Mark had just left to help with TC at the UNI game), and we were playing around in the kitchen. I ran downstairs to grab something Isaiah wanted and to switch the laundry. Levi came following me like usual sliding down the stairs on his tummy. Isaiah watches him from the top and says, "What's all that red stuff on the stairs?" I run to look and realize it's blood and it's coming from Levi's hand!! Levi wasn't crying or upset in any way.

I grabbed Levi right away, got a paper towel and held his pointer finger really tightly and he started SCREAMING. I made him wait there anyway for about 5 minutes, the bleeding wasn't slowing down, the screaming wasn't stopping and Isaiah just kept saying, "I don't have blood on my hands, I just have ketchup on them." and if I didn't respond to him EVERY time he would say it again louder. So it was a bit noisy... As I realized the bleeding wasn't stopping, I told Isaiah to go get my phone because we needed to call grandma. He quickly brought it to me and I dialed my parents' phone number and gave it back to Isaiah. I told him, "Tell grandma that she needs to come over right away." He was such a brave little boy, my mom answered and he told her, "Levi's bleeding, my mom wants you to come over." he continued by saying, "but I don't have blood on my hands, I just have ketchup." He kept repeeting this in my phone for a few minutes and finally I grabbed it from him and said, "are you coming?" My dad responded, "yes, we will be right there."

Within a couple minutes my mom came in to find me holding a S-C-R-E-A-M-I-N-G Levi with a finger that was still bleeding really hard. She got ice and a clean paper towel and kept the pressure. Levi screamed while we did this for another half hour, but the bleeding would NOT stop... After trying to put gauze and a band-aid on it, more ice, and more pressure we decided we'd better get him to the doctor.

So off we went, leaving my dad to watch Isaiah. My mom drove while I held Levi in the back seat (yes, we broke the law, but there was no way we would get Levi in a car seat the way he was!!). We made it to Sartori Hospital in just a few minutes and they got us in right away. The nurse took one look at it and then the doctor came in. He told the nurse how to wrap it and she came back and did it. They had a really slick little tool that quickly and easily wrapped his finger with gauze. He was still screaming, but we were able to get him to calm down a little bit by looking at all the sea creatures that were painted all over the walls. I'm so thankful we had a patient nurse who was kind to Levi.

Luckily once they were done wrapping his finger, he finally stopped screaming. They gave us our discharge papers and we were done. Again, not what I expected to find at an ER - quick service! No wonder people go to the ER instead of Urgent Care - no wait versus a hour + wait.

Anyway, of course my mom didn't have her carseat in her car so I held Levi on the way home. This time he screamed again, but only because he wanted me to let him down. Half way home my mom says, "great." I look behind us to find a police officer following us... oh no. I kept Levi low and my mom says, "I don't care what the next turn is, I'm taking it." So she did and it took us down to a dead end road! So she turned around and luckily we had lost the cop!

We made it home to find Isaiah already in bed (he fell asleep at 7:25pm and slept until after 8 this morning! - but why is a whole different story).

Levi was happy as could be and played with Grandpa while my mom helped me clean up the blood. And then off to bed he went. I was a bit surprised, but very glad, that his bandage was still on his finger when he woke up, and he had not bled through it.

Whew! Another crazy night at our house. Thank you mom and dad for everything! I'm not really sure what I would have done without you. and Thank you to Isaiah for being such a big, brave little boy to help me!

Of course I had my camera with me, so we had to get a few pictures to document the experience!

Here we are waiting for the doctor... pay no attention to my hair (I had just done a workout video and hadn't touched it since) and notice that we hurried out so fast that Levi has one sock on and one sock off!

In the car on the way home, Levi is holding the little bear that the nurse gave him

his poor little finger with the big, huge bandage on it, they wrapped it all the way up and then around his wrist so he couldn't get it off

nigh-night