The ER…Really?!?

Yes, really.  Sometimes, instead of crying in that dark corner in the hospital, I find myself laughing hysterically.  I mean, really.  What kind of family does this happen to??  Evidently ours.

I’m starting to think that when I told God I wanted an exciting, fun-filled life, he thought this would be a funny way to fulfill my life plan.  That, and I think it goes with the territory of having a big family.

How did it all happen…buckle your seatbelts and hang on for the ride.

At 8:15 this morning, we loaded up the troops (me in my pajamas, mind you) and took Scott to the airport for a business trip.  We returned home around 9:30 and I put Luke down for a nap while the other four watched a little Dora the Explorer.  Luke decided to NOT take a nap and scream and I contemplated getting him up and calling it a wrap or jumping in the shower.  I chose door #2.  Got the super quick shower and makeup done and was just walking out of the bedroom when I heard ALG let out a blood curdling scream.

Dang it.

My mom instinct knew it was a doozie.  I was getting ready to send one to timeout, one to my bedroom to shake off the tears and then head upstairs to console Luke and see if I could get him back to sleep.  I tried to get the “story” from John Paul. Seems as if ALG was jumping from one couch to the other and JP thought it would be cool to give her a gentle shove with his feet and thus we have back of the head vs. coffee table.  Table won.  I thought I’d just breeze in to the bathroom, give ALG the once over, send John Paul to timeout and head upstairs.  That is, until I saw that the back of her shirt was soaking wet and a blood spot on the floor (hey, at least it was on the icky carpet in the bathroom).  “****” I muttered under my breath.  I checked out her head knowing that head lacerations typically bleed a lot but they may not be ER worthy.  Except this one was.  A good one-inch gash on the back of the head.

I walked into the living room and told the kids to get their shoes on because we were going to the ER.  While I was rounding everyone up, Will immediately bolted into action, marched upstairs, got Luke out of his crib, brought him downstairs and put him in the carseat.  All without being asked.

That kid is amazing. 

With a rag on the back of her head to slow the bleeding and five kids buckled in the van, off we went to the ER.  Hi-ho, hi-ho…

We pulled in the parking lot and I was super relieved to see tons of empty spots.  The waiting room was deserted.  Even if God does have a sense of humor, at least he was compassionate.  They called us right back and spun into action.  4 trips to the bathroom, 35 games of “I Spy,” 1 near fall off the patient bed, lots of laughter, 1 quick hug from mom for the brave girl, 2 compliments from the staff about the good kiddo behavior (seriously?!) and 3 staples later we walked out of the ER and headed to Sonic for the obligatory “ER trip” ice cream blast.

What a morning.  Not usually how I like to spend my Sunday mornings.  Silly me thought we might actually make the 11:30AM Mass.  Notsomuch.

In the midst of all that, Scott arrived in Kansas City and turned on his phone to see a text from me giving him the stats on the ER visit.  Poor thing.  We do this to him everytime he gets on a plane.  Sorry sweetheart.

Cheers for our 12th ER visit.  That’s just nuts.