another trip to the er

On Friday, Hadley did one of her signature "not pay attention and I wallup my head on the car." In the past it's been while walking through the parking lot and she catches her nugget on a side-view-mirror. Or just walk into a car bumper while dancing along side of Jonathan or I while walking to the car. She's the little person who gets so far lost in her world that she loses track of what's in front of her (and, to be honest, she comes by this very honestly... eh hem).

So back to Friday...

I dropped the girls off at the drop in day care for an hour so I could do a few things. When we were leaving, she was dancing (as usual) on the sidewalk that I parked next to. I told her to get in the car, she turned around and stepped into the open door. Ouch.

She started crying. And cried the whole way home. When we got home, she went upstairs and put herself in bed. She never does this. Ever. Plus it was 3 p.m., naps do not usually happen this late.

Hadley fell right to sleep and I started to rouse her awake about 45 minutes later. She woke up, but she wasn't happy about it. But she liked the idea of sitting on my bed, watching Monsters Inc. and drinking chocolate milk. 20 minutes later I was on the phone with my boss and Hadley started crying. I turned around to ask her to be quiet and there was chocolate milk vomit all over my white bed linens. And her. I waited till she was finished, stripped her down and put her in the tub, where the crying continued.

I panicked. Vomiting after hitting head = not a good thing. So I called her pediatricians office and I was told not to bring her in until she vomits again. 20 minutes later she vomits again, so off to the  ER we went. But not without another upchuck in the car and one in the hospital room.

We had a very sweet pediatrician who Hadley liked. He did a neurological exam and felt that she didn't need a scan, but wanted to keep her for a bit to watch her. So the child life specialist brought her a few books, a toy, a movie to watch and a "pink" popscicle. Hadley was very happy. She even peed on the potty for another popscicle at the doctor's prompting.

After a couple of hours at the hospital, we were released with an A-OK from the doctor and Hadley adorned in a mini hospital gown because she had ruined the clothes with the final upchuck. She thought it was pretty cool - afterall, it was a gown and princesses wear gowns.

We stopped at the grocery store for some more popscicles and went home to sleep. She was such a good girl. And I was a scared mama. But, head injuries and vomit are nothing to mess around with. I was happy to spend a lot of money to find out it was likely a tummy bug and not a massive brain bleed.

Here are some resources on head injuries and the wee ones. Please take symptoms, like vomiting after bumping head (there are other symptoms not listed here), seriously:

• Kids Health
• Dr. Sears
• WebMD