Spent the night in the ER :(

Jen0204 · May 2012

DD1 has a cold and yesterday DD2 came down with it. Last night she woke up around 9:30 gagging so I picked her up and held her. She was crying hysterically and started choking on all of the phlegm. I kept hitting her back and she threw up all of the phlegm. We cleaned out her nose (love the NoseFrida!) and kept her upright but she was still hysterical which just made things worse and she choked twice more in about a half hour. We had the humidifier on in their nursery and that hadn't helped and I ran the shower as hot as it would go and hung out in there with her and that didn't help. I called the pediatrician after she choked the third time and she said if she does it again to go to the ER. She of course did it again when we hung up, so she and I went to the ER with my mom and H stayed home with DD1 (who slept through all of the screaming and commotion like a champ).

The ER was the biggest waste of time and I'm pissed I took her there and exposed her to more germs when they literally did nothing. They took her temp and checked her pulse and blood oxygen levels, listened to her lungs, looked in her ears and eyes, checked her belly and under her diaper, said "it's just a bad cold" and sent us home. They didn't even try to clean out her nose! I figured they wouldn't be able to do much but thought they'd at least be able to clean out her nose a little better then we could. He said to keep her at an incline, clean out her nose, and only worry if she chokes so badly that she changes color. So if she turns blue or purple they'll admit her, otherwise you just wait there for 2 hours for them to send you home. I wish the pediatrician had told me that they wouldn't be able to do anything at all, I would have just stayed home with her and avoided a hospital bill and exposing her to germs. She slept in her rock n play when we got home and she's still stuffy this morning but no more choking.

sparks2987 · May 2012

That sounds terriable.

I hate the ER, the doctors there are not use to working with babies and it seems that they treat them as they would an adult, oh it's just a cold. They could have at least given you some suggestions on how to help her get through it and how to keep her from choking all the time!

Jen0204 · May 2012

Yeah, it sucked. I'd much rather try to avoid my child turning purple or blue, tyvm. I couldn't believe that they didn't even try to clear her out a little bit.

Lizg1799 · May 2012

So scary!!! Sorry you had to go through that!

HappyToBe2012 · May 2012

Hope she is feeling better!

Jen0204 · May 2012

Thanks! She's all smiles today. Still stuffy but sounds much better. These kids will make me turn grey before they turn 1!

Tbh22012 · May 2012

That is awful and scary! Do you have an ER near you that has pediatric specialists? We have a few hospitals nearby but one is known for emergency pedi care so we would go there in an emergency. Sorry you had to go through that.

hayliedc · May 2012

We did the exact same thing when DD was 4 weeks old. She kept gagging and choking. We called the after hours and they told us to go to the ER. We got there at midnight and waited in a trauma room so she wouldn't be exposed to more germs for 4 hours! When we finally got taken back they did an xray and sent us home at 7am. It was the biggest waste of time since they didn't do anything either.

Jen0204 · May 2012

Tbh22012:
That is awful and scary! Do you have an ER near you that has pediatric specialists? We have a few hospitals nearby but one is known for emergency pedi care so we would go there in an emergency. Sorry you had to go through that.

I went to the hospital an hour away because it's the one where I had the girls and they have a fancy NICU and it's one of the best around here. That's why I was even more annoyed that they did nothing.

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Spent the night in the ER :(

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