Trip the ER!

I guess it had been entirely too long since we had taken one of the boys to the Emergency Room! So, tonight we had to make an appearance.

This time, it was Chase who fell down! He was playing with one of those super bouncy balls, and had been for hours. He would bounce it, and then run after it to try to catch it, with the ball bouncing everywhere. It was all fun and laugher, until we heard the awful SPLAT! and knew immediately that it was the sound of Chase's head hitting the hardwood floor. Mommy and Daddy jumped up and ran to him (he was only about 2 feet away). He was lying flat on his back, not making a sound. I scooped him up and he immediately started to cry. And, cry. And, cry. 40 minutes later he was still crying. And, we knew something was really wrong.

He finally quieted down and was still laying on me. With one hand, I was comforting him. And, with the other, I was frantically trying to search my Blackberry for signs of head injury. As I was reading the Mayo Clinic site about concussions in children, Chase began to fall asleep. I knew enough to know that when someone has a head injury, the last thing you want them to do is fall asleep. I tried to wake him and he then began throwing up!! At that moment, I jumped up and yelled to everyone to get in the car...we were going to the emergency room!!!

It was chaos at that point! Cole ran to his room to pack some clothes (boy, was I ever proud of that boy for taking matters into his own hands like that!) and then he ran to the car and jumped into his car seat to wait patiently for the rest of us! Mommy and Chase were covered in vomit so I was trying to get the two of us in clean clothes while Daddy was packing Cole's toothbrush, turning off lights, and doing who knows what!

We dropped Cole off at Nonnie's house and then sped down the road toward the hospital. Before we even got out of our little town, a cop pulled us over for speeding! Thankfully, he was a nice guy who let us go with just a warning when Daddy explained the situation! *whew* After arriving at the hospital, and sitting in the waiting room full of H1N1 patients (ewwwwww!), the doctor checked out Chase who, by that point, was fine. They made us stay awhile for observation and then sent us home with instructions to wake him several times during the night to make sure he was ok.

It was pretty sleepless night for Mommy and Chase. But, thankfully he was just fine. And, somehow, I just know that this won't be that kid's last concussion.