Our 1st ER visit

Sean and I have been together for 11+ yrs and I can honestly say that we have yet to visit the ER for any reason (knock on wood) that is until this past Sunday night. Kylie came home from a wonderful playdate and complained on the ride home that her forehead itched. Once at home she kept scratching and upon close inspection it turned out she had a minor scratch on top of a little shiner. I was not alarmed at all instead I wished that I could take away any discomfort she was feeling. Poor Bean. The next day we had a lovely time visiting one of our favorite places Sea-World and the day went on as usual. Sunday evening in the middle of a movie, Kylie asked us for juice and I was a bit concerned at how different she seemed to look to me at that moment. I asked Sean in the faintest whisper as to not upset Kylie if he noticed the same thing I did. Once he confirmed that he did, we immediately went into action contacting our after hours pediatric nurse. Kylie's profile was no longer the one that we knew of instead it was a slightly enlarged forehead area. The little indent between her nose and forehead were no longer there. The after hours nurse suggested that we take her to the ER as the first 72 hrs were critical for head injuries. Sean and I immediately went into action as if we've done this a million times before.
DVD player...check
coloring book and crayons...check
snacks...check
and so on. We pretty much planned that we'd be spending several hours in the ER. We never panicked or let Kylie think there was anything wrong. When it was time to dress her into warmer jammies, Kylie asked "where are we going mommy"? I told her we were going for a ride. She then asked "where are we going Daddy"? She received the same response. Once we arrived I expected to fill out tons of paperwork. It ended up being just one page and I was barely done signing my name when Kylie was called in for the registration, blood pressure, heart check and all that jazz. We barely waited 10 min in the waiting room when we were called in to see the Dr. We couldn't believe our luck! The whole time Kylie was happy as can be. I guess anything was better than having to go to sleep. Have I mentioned how difficult it is to get her to bed each night despite the routine? But I digress... She was never scared or seemed concerned. It's almost as if she was enjoying the attention. The Dr. said it seemed that Kylie had a Hematoma and judging by how alert and happy she was, there was no need to put her thru x-rays or cat scans. He said that the Hematoma will continue to drain down and to expect bruising or black eyes and to notify our daycare of such so that they don't call the authority on us. Yes sir! That was it. We were on our way to the hospital at 10:30pm and Kylie was finally in bed by midnight. Is that amazing or what? I'd like to think that we will not have to visit there again but if we do, we are ready. Sean and I don't work well together on home improvement projects or even picking out furniture but I was really impressed with how we each instintively seemed to know what our roles were in preparing for our first ER trip and took swift immediate action. Wink.

On a precautionary note, if your little one experiences a head injury followed by vomiting or acts lethargic, seek immediate attention. Per the Dr. the first 24 hrs are critical rather than the 72 hr window that the nurse mentioned.

My little purse camera came in handy for documenting our scary event. I'm not sure that the pics really show the swelling on her forehead, over her eyes or even above the bridge of her nose as much. But believe me, it was a cause for concern and we would not have slept thru the night without having it checked out by a professional. Thank goodness all is well - whew!