reasons you brought a child to ER

Discussion in 'General' started by twin_trip_mommy, Nov 17, 2011.

  1. twin_trip_mommy

    twin_trip_mommy Well-Known Member

    I will admit I am not a typical Mom. At least that is what I have come to believe after reading my ER visit thread.

    I guess I could have gone to the ER many many times. I have children with asthma but have called the Pedi left a message, got a call back after hours and then just went to admitting (avoiding the ER environment and cost). I also had several cuts but I have just dealt with the ones I could deal with. My son sliced his leg with a broken glass jar of pickles. My daughter smashed her nose going down an ice hill. The scars shows up in the summer. Two of my children slammed fingers in the car door and one with the storm door, she lost her whole fingernail. Another smashed into our van and broke her tooth. WOW! I guess I could have gone many times but I just deal with the issues. I even had a child get a 102.5 temp I gave a tylenol suppository, oral fever reducer and a cool bath along with a call to the Pedi. When she called back the temp was down and she said she wanted to see her in the AM no need to visit the ER.

    My only visits to the ER were

    Daughter (4 or 5 years old) stepped on broken glass and cut her toe open. It would not stop bleeding. She got 6 stitches.

    I was giving my son a hair cut at about age 6 he turned his head and I snipped the tip of his ear. It would not stop bleeding at home. DID stop in the ER while we waited. Should have left then but stayed. They put glue on it and it cost $300.00

    Daughter (11 years old) was trying to cut a toy out of a hard plastic ball and the scissor slipped. She cut her thumb. It would not stop bleeding. She got 9 stitches.

    Part of the reason we do not go to ER is cost. We have a $100.00 co pay and a HUGE deductible. So if I can fix it I do. If I can't we go.
     
  2. Tamaralynn

    Tamaralynn Well-Known Member

    I took William when he was 8 days old for Jaundice and he was admitted for 2 weeks, he ended up having sepsis as well, not a nice experience. I have taken Donevan 3 times to the ER for his breathing, once by Ambulance, his lips were blue, and when they got there his O2 sat was 80%. I am asthmatic myself and I could see him really struggling. Took William was he was about 8 months for a severe allergic reaction. In September I took the twins to the ER for Croup, Nathaniel ended up being admitted overnight, that was a scary night of heart monitors and epineffarine treatments. I recently took the twins to the ER for ears, as they have had non stop infections since Sept and have tubes and NO ONE was willing to really do anything. I only went to get new referrals, so there was a method to my madness,and it worked! We have a new Ped, a new ENT and they did blood work on them to figure out if there was an underlining issues. I don't like going to the ER though, I honestly try and avoid it like the plague although it doesn't sound like it from my post! lol
     
  3. ECUBitzy

    ECUBitzy Well-Known Member

    I took Alexis once to the after hours clinic for a bug bite that had a bullseye pattern. It was a mosquito bite (doh!). Fortunately it was only a $25 lesson. ;)

    I'm not one to go to the doctor much anyway, though.
     
  4. miss_bossy18

    miss_bossy18 Well-Known Member TS Moderator

    I took the girls when they were about 6 weeks old because they both vomited blood. I took Riley this past summer due to dehydration from a nasty stomach bug (stuff was coming out both ends & she couldn't even keep water down). Usually though I much much prefer seeing our family doc whenever possible just for the continuity of care. Thankfully, cost is never a factor in our decision to go or not.
     
  5. Leighann

    Leighann Well-Known Member

    The only times I've taken the girls to the er, I called the pedi first to see if it was appropriate. Meara has been twice (2 weeks old, day after nicu discharge for possible bowel perforation; 3 weeks ago for an allergic reaction to antibiotics), and Ana has been twice (at 2 for croup and it was 1am and she couldn't breathe; at 3 years old for a broken foot).
     
  6. Minette

    Minette Well-Known Member

    I took Amy to the ER when she was ~8 weeks old and I noticed a lump in her abdomen while I was changing her diaper. It turned out to be an inguinal hernia (the lump was her ovary poking through the hole!), and wasn't a critical emergency, but with a tiny baby I was freaked out.

    And DH took Amy to the ER when she was 23 months and had croup and seemed to be having trouble breathing. If we had been more experienced with croup, we could probably have gotten her through the night, but the doctor told him he made the right decision (and gave her oxygen and a steroid shot).

    Sarah has never been to the ER, knock on wood!
     
  7. AmynTony

    AmynTony Well-Known Member

    Ian has been to the ER twice - once at a month old - turned out to be colic BUT when I called the on-call pedi after he cried for 5 hours straight she told me he could be getting a virus and if it continued to take him...so I did...I could feel the ER staff laughing at me (they weren't really but it felt like it LOL) and then at 19 or 20 months he had a febrile seizure, a temp of 105 and his lips were blue and he was having breathing issues...he went by ambulance that time!

    Abby went to urgent care about a year ago for 3 stitches in her forehead...and went to the actual ER one night because she was coughing so hard she said she couldn't breathe but once I got her to the ER she was fine (snot!)...
     
  8. Danibell

    Danibell Well-Known Member TS Moderator

    Took my oldest when he was about 20 months old, he had a stomach virus and after 3 hrs of him vomitting blood every 15 mins, I was concerned. They gave him suppositories to stop the vomitting and checked to be sure he wasn't dehydrated.

    Took my then 2 yr old twin boy Liam, when he fell and I thought he'd broken his elbow, spent 2 hrs at home first and he spent most of that crying, especially every time we moved his arm. He's a very tough kid and doesn't normally cry more than 10 mins. Turns out he had nursemaid's elbow, basically the joint pops out, and when they did the xray's they popped it back in. Now I know what to watch for.

    Liam has also had 3 stitches in his chin at the urgent care clinic, and put his tooth thru his lip 2 weeks ago. Thankfully that healed on it's own ;)
     
  9. Mama_Kim

    Mama_Kim Well-Known Member

    Sean - age 5, slammed his thumb shut in the van door - it was pretty flat so we went for x-ray (weekend)
    Brian - age 5, a shovel fell off the wall in our garage and hit him in the back of the head - that required staples (Sunday afternoon)
    Craig - age 12, fell while running upstairs to the bathroom (trying to beat Brian, of course), fell and jammed his pinky into the door jam to the bathroom as he continued to slide forward - that one was ugly, dislocated in two places and quite broken - he almost required surgery (it was midnight when it happened, Labor Day)

    Craig could have gone to ER at age 7 when he fell off Sean's top bunk and broke his wrist but he insisted he was fine so we did not take him until the next afternoon and then the pedi's office was open.

    Oh wait, four visits to the ER for us. Craig was in the ER at age 14 (NY Eve Day at 2 am) with a severe urinary tract infection.
     
  10. becasquared

    becasquared Well-Known Member TS Moderator

    Actual ER? One time for stitches. It had stopped bleeding, and I could have butterflied it and would have if she hadn't been 20 months old at the time. But since she was young, I wanted something she couldn't remove on her own.

    We've been to Urgent Care several times though, strep throat, allergic reactions mostly.
     
  11. Meximeli

    Meximeli Well-Known Member

    We've only ever made one trip to the ER with a kid (and it's free here.) And that was for a 42 degrees Celcius fever, which the online conversion is telling me is 107!!!! :wacko: I took her temp more than once to confirm, stripped her and loaded her in the car with a cold compress. When we got there is was still 40. The docs told me they were amazed that she was perfectly lucid.
     
  12. Rollergiraffe

    Rollergiraffe Well-Known Member TS Moderator

    I have been to the ER plenty because my kids choose to get really sick after hours. I can't even count the number of times we've gone in because we can't get asthma under control when they have colds. Miles was admitted once, so I do not screw around with that ever. Fortunately at the Children's hospital near us they have a great respiratory program and they admit us right away. There has only been once out of probably a dozen times that we've been there and they didn't require treatment by the time we got there.

    Two trips I could have avoided were taking Austin in for vomiting when he had his egg allergy; he was only about 7 months old and went limp and green one day and started projectile vomiting for hours out of the blue. It was Saturday and we couldn't get it under control. I was kind of embarrassed about that one. The other one was when Miles had bloody diarrhea when he was about 3 months. That turned out to be a milk allergy. His doctor was on vacation and I was still new mom panicky, I had no idea it could wait!
     
  13. Katheros

    Katheros Well-Known Member

    I've only been once with one of the boys. At just over 4, Alex knocked the back of his head on my bed's headboard. It happened around dinner time and the clinic was closed. He stopped bleeding quickly enough but was still pretty deep so I took him into the ER. He got 2 staples in his head and a perpetual fear of the store Staples.
     
  14. Moodyzblu

    Moodyzblu Well-Known Member

    Jesse cut his his head at school and needed stitches. My grandson got a little plastic ball stuck in his nose and I couldn't get it out. Jaydens been a few times .. but he has health problems and it's more of a "better to be safe than sorry" trip .. once he had a febrile seizure and another time he was having chest pains.
     
  15. MNTwinSquared

    MNTwinSquared Well-Known Member

    I brought my 7 month old to the ER because of Croup once. I was able to go to urgent care instead of ER once when we were afraid that dd broke her arm. No break. :)
     
  16. christinam

    christinam Well-Known Member

    I try not to go to the ER unless we have to. I've gone three times. Two were with DS. Once he was 2.5y and broke his leg playing. The second time was this past spring. He was 5.5y and cut his head at the playground. Never seen SO much blood ever! He needed I think about nine stitches. I can't remember exactly. Once time I took my DD2 when she was about 11mos old. I completely overreacted to the situation. My sister-in-law had died suddenly (at the young age of 50) the day prior. We were all stressed to the absolute max. DD was sick with a cold. Nothing serious. She wasn't happy and I had to rock her forever to get her to sleep. Once she woke she was crazy crying. Insane. Then she was jerking her head funny which now I think was her just sniffing in from crying so hard and I freaked and took her to the ER thinking she was having seizures or something. I felt like an idiot when we were there three hours and he told me she had a cold and would be fine. I completely overreacted and I don't even count that time whenever I typically talk about ER visits. Thank God that with having five kids those are our only visits. Now if we want to talk about overreacting and taking them to the pedi for no good reason.....
     
  17. cjk2002

    cjk2002 Well-Known Member

    Found out shortly after they turned 2 that Jake was allergic to peanuts. He started to swell and had a hard time breathing even with a dose of Benadryl.

    This past April Jake again had a 103 fever and could not swallow motrin so it kept rising. Turns out he had strep throat.

    Both times it happened on a weekend after the pedi office was closed. They were the ones who instructed me to take him to the ER with the peanut allergy.

    Knock wood, Josh has not been there yet.
     
  18. MLH

    MLH Well-Known Member

    Gosh, let's go by child here....

    DD1 - broken ankle at age 6 (tripped and rolled her ankle while running to catch the bus).
    - Age 8, stitches in eyebrow

    DD2 - she's my asthma girl. She's only been hospitalized/gone to the ER once with it though...RSV/Pneumonia at 18 months
    - 5 months old for Rotovirus and severe dehydration

    DS - He's my ER kid. Well, we do urgent care for the most part now.
    - ER visit for croup that wouldn't go away with at home treatment
    - Stitches to corner of his eye (he turned at the corner of a water slide and smacked his eye on it)
    - Stitches under his chin (fell in the bath)
    - Glued forhead (got hit at daycare with a golf club - don't ask!)
    - Glue between the eyes (hit with a door)
     
  19. kingeomer

    kingeomer Well-Known Member TS Moderator

    Took Sophia to the ER when she was 23 months old because DH accidentally shut her pinky in our front door. Her pinky was totally flat and I was afraid she would lose her finger. As it turned out, it wasn't even broken, they called it a crush injury. I really hope it's the only time I need to take a child to the ER.
     
  20. jjzollman

    jjzollman Well-Known Member

    We have been once. Lennon was 3 and was wheezing and retracting, so in we went. X-rays, steroids, and a new nebulizer plus a diagnosis of possible asthma (turned into a definite diagnosis of asthma at age 6, but very well controlled.)
     
  21. Utopia122

    Utopia122 Well-Known Member

    I took Sarah to the ER because she got a Barbie shoe stuck up her nose. That was a $50 barbie shoe...I was p.o'd, but couldn't leave the thing in her nose all weekend, and she refused to let us get it out.

    We've been very lucky and never had to visit the ER with the kids except for that.
     
  22. Mellizos

    Mellizos Well-Known Member

    Many times. And I figure we'll go many more times before they are grown.
    A - croup and trouble breathing. Swallowed a coin and didn't know if it made it to his stomach. 105 temp - turned out to be foot and mouth disease.
    J - broken arm. Swallowed coin. Suspected appendicitis (went to the family doc who immediately sent us to the ER). Vomiting blood - urgent care refused to see us.

    Some of these happened overseas, so the cost was minimal. For example, the broken bone was $500 for the ER visit, orthopedist, surgery to set the arm, recovery, etc. We pay 10% so only $50 for the whole thing.
     
  23. ljcrochet

    ljcrochet Well-Known Member TS Moderator

    I probably should not be posting this but I have never taken my girls to the er. The closest we came was when Sydney sliced her hand open on a ceramic garbage can. We have an great after hours urgent care that we took her to instead.
     
    1 person likes this.
  24. carmenandwhittsmom

    carmenandwhittsmom Well-Known Member

    Let's see...
    My son when he was about 2. Stomped his foot down on our stone floors. Thought he might have broken it since he couldn't walk. Turned out, a 3 hour wait in the ER cured him. It was just a sprain.

    My son earlier this year (age 5). Thought he stuck something in his ear. Went out in a blizzard (DC area) to find out that he had an ear infection.

    My son, about 1 month ago. He broke his arm on the monkey bars at school.

    We have also been to urgent care for him for ear infections. My daughther has been to the hospital twice but not the ER. Once for an inguinal (sp??) hernia and when she stuck a bead of some sort in her ear.

    I am hoping not to visit anytime soon but with the boy, you never know...
     
  25. MrsWright

    MrsWright Well-Known Member TS Moderator

    Urgent care many times for strep and breathing troubles on the weekend but actual ER visits:

    Jack swallowed a light bulb (a car blinker one so it crushed like a xmas ornament) when Hannah was 4 days old...so 18 months

    JT "swallowed" a tool piece at MIL's house (age 2)...asked her to count pieces--she said she didn't have box, 1.5wks later while waiting for it to pass (xray showed "something) I finally got her to count the pieces bc we found the set SIL bought on amazon and low and behold he never did!!! :fool:
     
  26. rrodman

    rrodman Well-Known Member

    Once with Jack. He fell and hit his head at daycare. They told us his pupils seemed dilated and the pedi said to do ER or urgent care. DH took him to ER and I met them there. He told me at the time that the pedi had said ER. I later realized everyone had been overreacting. The ER doc looked at him for less than five minutes, said he was absolutely fine, and sent us home with a $1600 bill. Great ER experience though. In and out in under a half hour.
     
  27. 4jsinPA

    4jsinPA Well-Known Member TS Moderator

    By kid:

    Josie - 2 years ago pretty bad concussion (hit head doing double back tuck off uneven bars) she kept repeating "what happened" for 1 hour. Last year she and a friend got bit by a stray cat and had to get the series of rabies shots. We went to ER because it was Friday night and the rest of shots had to be administered in ER as well. She had the swine flu 2 years ago as well and was dehydrated so I took her in.

    Jack - Had 11 ear infections in his first 15 mos of life. So we did spend some weekends in the ER for that alone. He also had 2 bad cases of croup, one requiring an ambulance ride because his breathing got very bad.

    Mitchell - 6 mos old required cpr when he stopped breathing completely on us at 1230am. 18 mos old - once again stopped breathing this time at 430am and I did cpr, at 3 yrs old severe asthma attack and stopped breathing agin requiring cpr(I didn't think he was going to come back). He fell off a counter around the age of 2 and got a concussion. Around the same time he fell into a wall and literally bit a big hole in his tongue. I couldn't control the bleeding for a long time so I brought him in. I had many other reasons I could have brought him in but he was on a o2 sat monitor for 2 years and I was able to monitor him from home.

    McKenna - Once for an ear infection on the weekend

    Because of Mitchells breathing issues I have been told I wait too long to bring my kids in. But I HATE the ER. I feel like you pick up more germs than you went in there with!
     
  28. hudsonfour

    hudsonfour Well-Known Member

    I am fortunate that so far I have never had to take any of the girls to the ER. I have never had to visit the ER myself, but had to take my dh when he stepped on the chainsaw and sliced his toe open, the other visit was for my father when he had food poisoning and was running a 103 fever. Dad ended up staying for a few days.
     
  29. NINI H

    NINI H Well-Known Member

    DS #1 Pedi sent him due to low ox levels and trouble breathing. It was pneumonia.
    DS #2 Biting his tongue half way off and it wouldn't stop bleeding.
    Severe head injury. Was sent from pedi's office with uncontrollable vomitting. ER ended up missing the diagnosis anyways. Turned into one of the worst things we've ever gone through!
    Twice for dehydration from sickness. Once again sent by pedi.
    Fever over 106. He's had fever since that were higher, but we learned to deal with them at home. Pedi says as long as it's not over 108 and we are comfortable dealing with them then we can take care of them at home.
    Uncontrolled vomitting: vomitting every 20 mins for 2 days. (This is how DH remembers this one-to be completely honest....I don't remember this trip.)
    Twin #2 Smashing hand in door at Tortilla Factory. Worst injury to hand I've seen without broken bones and no stitches. Even the ER people were surprised his hand was intact.


    Even though we've been alot with DS#2 we've been very selective in what we can do at home/pedi/vs ER. Most of the time the pedi has sent us. The high fevers have been bad. For a long time he was having them every 2-3 weeks. I think the highest has been 106.9. That is not a record he needs to break. And we pray that he is outgrowing the unexplained fevers.
     
  30. tinalb

    tinalb Well-Known Member TS Moderator

    We have used the ER a few times over the years. Mostly very high fevers (always Olivia & always over 105 degrees), once the doctor sent me there with Tess because he thought she might have appendicitis (didn't), stitches a couple of times at night or on holidays when the clinics were all closed, and our latest visit was because of this....

    View attachment 6500 warning... kind of icky

    which she did at school & the school officials insisted on taking her to the ER. ER visits for us are free but we try not to abuse the privilege and use it only when we feel it is really necessary.
     

    Attached Files:

  31. Ange2k25

    Ange2k25 Well-Known Member

    We've only been once to the ER and that was with Katelyn per the doctor's orders.

    She'd been throwing up since Friday evening and wasn't keeping anything down. We took her to the after hours pediatric place on Sunday-regular office visit copay. They gave her a shot to stop the throwing up but it didn't really work. No diagnosis-all the tests they did were negative. She was really sick again Monday morning and had an elevated temp and was listless. We took her to the regular pediatrician's office and were sent right away to the ER of the adjoining hospital. The doctor had called over, so she went straight back to a room to be further evaluated and was admitted right away. She had Rotavirus and pneumonia. She spent 2 nights/3 days on seizure watch due to her levels and a total of 4 nights in the hospital. Thankfully, we had double insurance at the time and no out of pocket charges for the hospital stay or ER visit.
     
  32. tinalb

    tinalb Well-Known Member TS Moderator

    My oldest, Olivia, was like that. Ran really high fevers for no known reason. It was kind of scary at first, she would be 105 or 106 and pretty much unresponsive, but you do kind of get used to it after awhile. Just wanted to give you some hope, Olivia outgrew it & hardly ever runs a fever of any kind now. I would say by the time she was 5 or 6 she was getting them a lot less often, and by the time she was 8 or 9, hardly ever.
     
  33. Dielle

    Dielle Well-Known Member

    I already listed our visits in the other thread. We don't go a lot. Between a pedi office who has Saturday and Sunday hours for sick kids, a local urgent care clinic and the general ability to handle a lot of kids' illnesses on my own, there's not often a true need. But I would say a limp, green baby and bloody diarrhea would both qualify as emergencies for me. And a fever of 104+ that wouldn't come down, broken bones or bleeding that won't stop would probably get me in there, too. So my 2 visits for mastitis late on Saturday nights when I had fevers of over 104 both times fit in there. Both times I got shots in my butt and they wouldn't let me leave til my fever broke. Once I thought my DD had broken her elbow/arm, but it was nursemaid's elbow (first time mom on that one). Another time she got severely dehydrated because she was vomiting and had diarrhea so badly she couldn't keep anything in her. They kept us for hours while they rehydrated her via IV. And once I took my DH when he had a middle ear infection that had him curled up in a ball in pain. Hm, I think only my oldest has been to the ER. Most of the time when I've gone in those doors it's because I was having a baby.
     
  34. MarchI

    MarchI Well-Known Member

    I have 3 kids and have only take 1 of them to the ER. Last year Henry had stomach flu and after a week of vomiting, was listless and dehydrated. The pedi decided to send him over for fluids. The ER doc gave him fluids and zofram and Henry perked right up then went to sleep.
     
  35. Cindy H

    Cindy H Well-Known Member

    4 trips to the ER with 5 kids. First was when we were in Utah visiting for a family wedding. It was the day we were driving back. After breakfast my one year old son broke out in Hives (we suspect the nut in his muffin!. We were not about to drive for 2 days without getting him checked first. 2 shots of steriods and a prescrip and we hit the road after lunch.

    2nd trip the same son fell off the porch at my sister's wedding reception and cut open his head, to the ER for stitches.

    3rd trip while camping 3 hours away from home my daughter cut her chin open in the front (a round circle cut so not easily bandaged) so to a very tiny hospital ER for stitches. She healed up without scaring, perfect for a girl's face. Later that year we actually had my son cut his chin open, but his was under his face so we just did steri-strips and he healed up nice. Can't see the scar unless he looks way up. So not every cut gets stitches.

    Last trip was a Sunday morning, my son could not stand up straight. It hurt in his lower belly. We suspected and were right it was His appendix. The stand alone ER sent us to the hospital and his appendix came out that day. Had not burst yet. Definitely worth and ER visit.

    Not bad for 12 years of child rearing. We actually seldom go to the dr unless I know we need antibiotics...for like strep or ear infection. I do pretty well with my mommy skills to treat at home.

    Cindy
     
Loading...

Share This Page