What would you do in an emergency?

A co-worker was sharing a story about how her husband was stung by bees, had a reaction, then took too much benedryl. It became apparent that he needed to go to the ER early the next morning and she told him he needed to call 911 (this was not a 911 type of emergency, btw) because she had to take a shower and their 1 y/o son wasn't awake yet. I thought that she was incredibly insensitive and should have gotten the baby up and drove her poor DH to the hospital.

But it got me thinking... If either myself or my DH had an emergency that wasn't serious enough for an ambulance transport, would I really want to drag the twins to the ER and sit their for hours? Especially if it meant waking them up! We don't have any family or friends close by that we could ask to watch the girls or drive to the hospital either. I asked my DH what he thought and he said that we should all go. I'm not so sure I agree.

What would you do?

 

If nobody were able to drive him to the hospital, I'd call a taxi (assuming a taxi could get there quickly enough, and the problem didn't look too bad). Selfish, but I just could not handle taking care of the kids at the ER, especially if it also involved waking them up early (=turning them into monsters). But if it were something that looked serious/scary, I would get the kids up and we'd all go.

 

I think I would wake all my kids and take him to the hospital. For my own piece of mind. You never know how serious it could be. And how awful you would feel for it later. And it's just one day of fussy kids. I would either stick a stroller in to take along to put them back to sleep, or lots of snacks to keep them happy. But I would hate to not be there for my dh!

 

I would have woken my child up and taken dh to the ER. I would not have been looking forward to the hours ahead of me but I would not have even thought to call 911 for a transport. Maybe for advice but not to pic dh up.

 

We would not call 911 because there would have been no way that I could have watched the ambulance pull away and not follow and if I was going to follow then I could have just driven KWIM?

This did make me think of a time when we were heading down to the bus stop and their was an ambulance at the neighbors. After the ambulance pulled away his partner was just getting in his car to head up to the hospital so I asked if everything was ok. He said yes, he probably just needed an IV because he was dehydrated from the flu but he knew if he went to the ER he would have to wait for a potentially long time while if he arrived by ambulance he would be top priority. I was shocked. The neighborhood was all concerned (the most activity we had had in a long long time) and all that it was was someone who didn't feel like waiting his turn??!!!

 

I think that's an INCREDIBLE waste of taxpayer resources AND potentially taking away a resource that is needed is a REAL life threatening emergency. What if someone had a heart attack (like my Brother in Law did last week) and that ambulance was the closest and went to help her husband and then they had to call a unit farther away for the heart attack call and it was then TOO LATE (like it was for my BIL) because she was lazy?! I'm just stunned. Sorry.

To answer your question, I would have sent DH to URGENT CARE because it could be handled there (from the sounds of it) and because our copay is $10 (vs $150 in the ER) and because he wouldn't be hogging up precious ER resources. However, IF he truly needed to go to the ER but did not need an ambulance transport, I would put all three of my kids in the van and drive him. Once I knew he was going to be ok, I would entertain the idea of taking the kids home until he was ready for us to pick him up or he could then take a cab home.

 

I would have not showered, woken the child up, and driven my dh there myself. No way would I waste the time of the emergency service personnel if it wasn't a life threatening emergency.

 

I would find a neighbor to come and either take him to the hospital or stay with the kids. Most likely the latter. We have had a couple of instances for me to go to the ER in the middle of the night and we just call a "really great" neighbor to come over and be with the kids. I would never call 911 for something that is not an emergency that I should either drive my DH or he should take me. I would be afraid they would tell me where to go

 

I had a severe kidney infection and needed to go to the ER in the middle of the night. DH put the babies in the car, then me, and he brought me to the hospital. I had to walk myself in, and admit myself, but he drove me there and stayed in the car with the kids.

 

QUOTE(HRE @ Sep 18 2008, 07:38 PM) [snapback]986720[/snapback]
I think I would wake all my kids and take him to the hospital. For my own piece of mind. You never know how serious it could be. And how awful you would feel for it later. And it's just one day of fussy kids. I would either stick a stroller in to take along to put them back to sleep, or lots of snacks to keep them happy. But I would hate to not be there for my dh!

I think I'm with you here.

 

I would have loaded my stroller in the car, awakened all three young children and loaded them in the car, and then put my DH in the car. There is no way I would have called 911 for a non-emergency because I didn't want to deal with my responsibilities. What kind of message is a person sending to their spouse when they make that kind of decision? I absolutely would have taken my DH to the hospital myself and I don't believe that I would even consider not taking him.

 

This happened to us when my boys were 5 and 7. We took DH to the ER/urgent care (he was having a severe asthma attack due to an allergic reaction to an asthma medication and couldn't inhale properly).

We got him signed in and then we left--at his insistence. He did not want all of us sitting around in the waiting room (this, btw, was pre-cellphones). I took the kids home, got them ready for school and put them on the bus. At about that time, DH called to be picked up. I have no doubt that in a similar non-life-threatening situation, DH would not want all of us in the waiting room, exposed to who-knows-what germs.

Of course now we live half a mile from my ILs, who could probably watch the kids for us in such a case. (Not necessarily, since MIL is undergoing chemo, so if one of the kids had a cold, she would not be able to watch them.)

Calling an ambulance never even occurred to me at the time.

 

Depends on how severe the situation was. If dh was able to drive himself, he would just go himself. Otherwise I would have woken up all 4 and gone.

We have had 3 life threatening situations with Mitchell. 2 of the times dh was not there for. That to me was scarier, bc Mitchell had to be taken by ambulance and there was no chance I wasn't going with him (especially since I had just done cpr on him). Luckily I have the worlds BEST neighbor who I was able to call and she came right over and stayed with the kids until my ils (who live an hour away) could be here. But they don't let you bring all the kids in the ambulance with you, so to have a plan for when one of you is away is another thing to take into consideration. When it happened the first time, dh was there but I brought McKenna in the ambulance with us bc she was still being breastfed at the time and I didn't want to leave her behind. In retrospect, I am not really sure why she didn't just follow in the car with dh but at the time I just grabbed her and left.

Good neighbors are priceless, I feel SOO fortunate for mine.

 

I also would have gotten everyone up gone to the ER and once I knew dh was ok I may have gone home to shower/ find a sitter and then returned! In the same situation, I hope dh would do the same for me!!

 

If dh needed to go and I couldn't find someone to sit with the kids, I definitely would have gotten them up and taken him. As long as I have cheerios and our Nintendo DS I'd be set for days. I can't believe someone would be so rude and insenstive to their spouse. I wouldn't have even thought to call an ambulance for something like that. I drove myself to the hospital when my water broke at 3:45a when I was 31 weeks 4 days. DS1 was still asleep and had school that day. I was also hoping it wasn't my water and they would send me home slightly embarassed but still pregnant.

Christy

 

Luckily for us, my mom lives 10 minutes down the road. I could call her to come stay with the girls. One of the many reasons I plan on never leaving this area.

 

I have had to do this a few times. Not for DH but for one of the twins. I up rooted everyone and took them all to the ER. If I had to take DH to the ER i would WAKE all the kids and take him. I would expect him to do the same.

I do have my parents near the hospital and my mom always meets me there.. and takes two home with her or waits with me.

 

We don't have any family around either. If I felt secure in that I could take him to the ER and he didn't need immediate medical assistance by an ambulance, I would take him. I'd ask a trusted neighbor/friend to watch the kids until I got my husband checked in and situated. Or, if no friend or neighbor was available I would wake the kids and take the whole family. Sure, the next couple of days would be rough if I had to wake the kids, but I think loss of sleep is much less of a risk than not helping my husband to the ER!

 

My sister lives 2 minutes away, so my first thought would be I would call her and BIL to come to my house and stay with the kids ... This actually happened to me a few month back. I was having stomach issues, and knew I should go to the ER. My sister wasn't around, at home or her cell. So I called my parents (live about 20 miniutes away) and my Dad came down and took me to the ER. DH stayed home with the kids. He hated not going with me ... but my Dad isn't super sure of himself with the kids ... and I didn't want to worry about that. Luckily about an hour later he showed up as my sister FINALLY go our message and went to the house to relieve my hubby.

If no one had been around, DH just would have taken all of us. What else can you do?

 

If it was DH I would drive him. There is no reason to call an ambulance who could be needed by someone in serious distress. I have actually done this before, and just had to drop him off and go back to get him when he was ready.
I had an incident w/ my DD was she was 2 mo, she spit up blood, and DH was working with our only vehicle at the time. So I called him to come home, and was on his way, but told me I should call 911 because there was a lot of traffic and he was about 30 minutes away. I was scared to death, and I did call, and the ambulance and fire truck came and were just kind of standing around talking to me about what happened, and DH pulled up about 10 minutes later. They asked if I wanted to take her or ride with them, and I decided to ride with them since I had called them out there. But I felt silly that DH got there shortly after they did, and the paramedics didnt make a big deal of her spitting up blood. They really didnt make the situation any better. But thinking back, if DH didnt get there and they were ready to take DD, I would have had to let her go alone! I dont think I couldve done it, and I know they wouldnt have let me take my other 3 children in the ambulance.
BTW, they kept us overnight and did an endoscopy and a bunch of other tests and found no reason why she spit up blood

 

I'm a military wife, so we're always alone most of the time. I had another wife off the same ship my DH serves on call me and needed to go to the ER at like 9pm cause she was vomitting pretty violently. So I stuffed both girls in their carseats, in PJ's (no one had gone to sleep yet), picked her up and took her to the hospital. I actually just dropped her off and told her to call me when or if they released her. If they didn't then I'd bring her some things from home the next day. Well, she ended up getting released around midnight. So I got the girls up and went and got her. The girls were good about getting up and then going back to sleep when we all got back home. I suppose if it wasn't life threatening, I'd take DH and stay, you never know just how serious things can be. I'd wake the girls up, it's only a small inconvienence, but life happens and not always according to schedule. He's my DH and I'd feel terribly guitly and heartless telling him to get his own ride there and as previous posts have stated, the ambulance isn't meant to be a medical taxi. It's meant to used for real emergencies. I've also been a nurse since '95 and have seen alot of people abuse the ambulance service.

 

Honestly, if a family member is sick or injured things like showers and the kids' sleep schedule get put on the back burner. In my opinion, you shove everyone in the car and do what you have to do - emergencies aren't designed to be convenient for goodness sake!

Fortunately, I live within a short distance of a hospital with an emergency room and my friend (who also has twin boys around the same age as mine) lives just a 5-minute drive the other side of the hospital. So today we made a plan that in case of medical emergency we'd pack our kids into the car and then call one another from the hospital to pick up the non-sick kid(s) and take them home (conveniently we both have 2 car seats in our cars, of course).

Wow, I never realized how handy it was going to be living near a hospital and a friend with twin boys! Hopefully we'll never have to put this plan into action.

Any one of my friends or family members could call me in case of a real emergency and I'd take them wherever they needed to go, I hope they know that.

 

I would wake the kids up and drive him myself. However, all of our famly lives in town and know I could get someone to come over easily.

 

The thought of taking a shower while dh is waiting for an ambulence from 911 blows my mind! No way.

 

For us, we have several family members all less than 5 miles away. I would call someone (probably my brother) to come stay with the kids and then take my husband myself (assuming he was that bad that he couldn't get there himself).

 

PS - the one time I have had to take dh to the ER was for hives.......and I think he reacted to the IV they gave him; the dr's said nothing about it (wasn't even on the report) but he started feeling nauseous, faint & all of a sudden his BP dropped and he keeled over. Next thing I know, the nurses are shouting at him, "Wake up! Wake up!" and other people were running in the room......it felt like an out of body experience almost as I watched, literally shaking. One of the scariest moments of my life. But there's no way I would've not wanted to be there. I think you just never know what will happen,.

 

QUOTE(Heathermomof5 @ Sep 19 2008, 09:57 AM) [snapback]987437[/snapback]
I also would have gotten everyone up gone to the ER and once I knew dh was ok I may have gone home to shower/ find a sitter and then returned! In the same situation, I hope dh would do the same for me!!


Ditto.

 

i would of woken up the kids and taken my DH to the emergency. i love my kids and my DH very much i would do anything for them so i would put up with anything for the next couple hours to make sure everyone was fine. i don't know what i would do if something happened to my DH and if it was just because i didnt wake up the kids and take him tyhat something happened then i would forever blame myself for that. if he had a reaction to a bee sting i would of givin him benadryll and sent him to the doctors immediately and not wait awhile to see if it was going to get bigger or not

 

It would depend on the situation.....

We live about 25 minutes from the nearest hospital.
We have no taxi service within a 30 mile radius....maybe even farther.
Neighbors are elderly (all of them) and there is NO WAY that they could care for all of my children.
The baby is still breastfed.
Both of our families live really close to the hospital.
Bee stings are DANGEROUS (sounds like he got a lot of them)
Overdose on meds VERY DANGEROUS.


I probably would have called the ambulance!!!!
I would not have showered, or worried about the kids sleeping!!!
The logistics of it all, the ambulance would be the "safer" thing to do.
They know how to handle these types of situations...what if hubby would have needed assistance and she was the only adult there, trying to drive the car? The kids could have watched the dad die or worse yet, mom get in a car accident from keeping an eye on the dad, and not the road.

The ambulance is stationed about 5 minutes from my house....it would take me more than 5 minutes to get everyones shoes on, not to mention buckling them into their carseats (4 of them still need help), I would have to grab a few things to keep the kids busy (tack on another 5 minutes). By the time that I could grab the essentials, the ambulance would have been to my house and loaded and transported and arrived at the hospital.