E.R. (and not the hunky George Clooney type)

“Paige, I need you to get up and drive me to the hospital.”
Not exactly what one wants to hear in the middle of the night.

Ryan was having an allergic reaction (to what, we don’t really know) and couldn’t breathe. His chest was constricted, and he needed to go to the hospital. I got up, threw on some clothes, and grabbed my purse. I forgot my Kindle, but did grab a book on the way out the door. No waking up the kids, or even leaving a note. I must admit, I drove a bit over the speed limit. Who’s on the road at 1 something in the morning, anyway?

This was actually my first trip to the Emergency Room. Seriously. I mean, when I was in labor, I went THROUGH the ER to get to labor and delivery, and that was more often that not in the middle of the night, but I hadn’t been to the EMERGENCY room. I was a little shocked that there is only one intake person (and no doctors or nurses) there to greet you. She asked him to take a seat and give him some information before she even went and got a doctor. It’s nothing like you see on TV.

But a nurse did soon come and get us, and we later learned that they had something like 7 cases come through the doors in about 10 minutes, so I guess that’s why we weren’t greeted promptly at the door. Ryan, wheezing the whole time, promptly got a shot of epinephrine, then an iv with benydryl and a steroid. He was soon breathing much easier, which was a great relief to both of us. Then she gave us the bad news that we would have to stay for at least 3 hours for observation. They got him all hooked up to monitors and I settled in to read my book. But reading is not so fun at 2 something in the morning.

All that antihistamine was doing it’s job to make Ryan REALLY sleepy, so he dozed off. I did get a few levels cleared in Angry birds (thank goodness for that new phone!), but the fun wore off pretty quickly. At about 3:30 am, the nurse said there was a spare bed she could roll in if I wanted to lay down. Ok, I thought. An hour of sleep would do me good. But sleeping wasn’t going to happen. Ryan’s pulse oxygen monitor would beep every time his oxygen level went below something like 85. It dipped down about every two minutes. I think the boy has sleep apnea. Then I was obsessed with watching the monitor, and watching him breathing. Does he stop breathing? Does he just take long rests between breaths? Oh, could we turn that monitor down? So, no, there was no sleeping, at least on my part.

A little before 5, the doc came in and said he thought we could go. They gave us Rx for epi pens, allergy meds and steroids, and sent us on our way. (And they didn’t even give us a baby. Every other time I’ve gone to the hospital in the middle of the night, at least we got to bring a BABY home with us.) Driving by McDonald’s, I thought, “I really could go for a bacon,egg and cheese biscuit right about now.” But it was a little early for that. We came home and got into bed. I set my alarm for 6:20, hoping to get a good hour of sleep.

Megan needed a ride to a friend’s house at 6:30. She’s going to a horse competition or something. After I dropped her off, I drove the mile to McDonald’s, and got us some breakfast sandwiches. I couldn’t think of what to feed the Chinese students, since one of them doesn’t like eggs. Sausage Mcmuffins for everyone!

So, here it is 7:39 am. I’m not sure I can go back to sleep right now if I try. Megan is off, the Chinese girls are off, Jenna and John are both up, and Ryan is asleep. I guess I’ll go back to bed and try to sleep for a little bit.

yawn.