DC's first trip to A&E - what was yours?

[vamosbebe]

9 month old DS woke up at 4am screaming his little head off hysterically, rushed him to A&E to be diagnosed with... a stomachache! After a suppository painkiller he fell asleep in the car home.

Super relieved, although slightly embarrased.

What was your DC's first (and hopefully only!) trip to A&E for?

We seem to average once a year!
3 months- viral meningitis
Then at about a year a temp that wouldn't come down (was weekend)- turned out to be tonsillitis.
At 2 years we were in for a minor burn.

DD1 was admitted at 1.5weeks because she wasn't able to keep any food down. They never found what was wrong!

DD2 was admitted at 3 weeks with a temperature of 40, turned out she had an enterovirus. What was worse was that the nurse on A&E said i was stupid work taking DD2 in. If i hadn't, she would have died in the night.

Goes to show that you can never be too careful and that you should always listen to your intuition.

DS was 8 weeks old, had a cold and started vommiting everything up. Couldn't get him into GP (bad weather, they were shut) so traipsed to A and E because of the snow the 10 minute trip took close on an hour.

When we arrived at A and E all hell broke loose within minutes he was hardly breathing and was taken into resus on oxygen, bloods taken, machines beeping the works.

Turned out he had serious bronchiolitis and that was the start of a 10 day trip to hospital including 5 days in HDU and the start of a catalogue of chest problems.

DS1 - split his head open on a bookcase having a tantrum over a chocolate digestive at around 18 months. Had it glued at A&E.

DS2 - fell over and put his teeth through his lip at 18 months-ish. Doctor agreed it was really nasty but not much they could do - has left a horrible big lump on his lip. Also spilt his head on a radiatior at 2.5y and had that glued.

DS3 - severe bronchiolitis at a week old. Had a horrible first night in hospital with him really struggling on oxygen & NG then moved to HDU and cpap in morning before being ventilated and flown 200 miles to Edinburgh Sick Kids in the afternoon where he spent a week in PICU (over Christmas!) then transferred back for another week on oxygen. He had 5 further admissions by ambulance by the time he was 6 months so it's been a stressful year. He's almost 10 months old now and has been better over the summer but worried about him again today. Feel like we really lost our innocence when he was so ill and now I'm always worrying about him.

Toomuchpizza - I know that feeling, every little sniffle has you watching and waiting to see if things are going to deteriorate.

We took DS to A&E aged three days as he wasn't waking up to feed and was quite jaundiced - he was admitted overnight. Touch wood, nothing since then (he's 2.2).

dd- fell from a plastic push along. we thought the crack was her ankle. she was fine.
ds1- trapped willy in the toilet seat
ds2- bump to the head. first of many visits for him!

Yes,Sirzy - we've spent so many weekends stressing about whether to phone or not. It takes over your life. The hospital and GPs have been great with him though and are always happy to see him. He's quite well known now in the ward and among the paramedic crews!

DD (3 years old) fell at the swimming pool & split her head (right on eyebrow) so went to have butterfly stitch.

Six months later she fell at a dance lesson and thought she'd broken a toe but thankfully not.

DS (5 years old) fell down stairs in a shop and had suspected broken nose. 3 hours in a&e to be told that if it looked crooked when the swelling went down, then it was probably broken and that we should go back to our own doctor!

Four months later he fell over and split his chin - had to be glued back together!

4yo DD: put a bead up her nose
Nearly 3yo DS2: viral induced wheezing

Technically haven't taken other DC to A+E, but many visits to walk in clinic or minor injuries unit for bad gashes on head & elsewhere.

Heavens, many beads up noses!!

DD aged about 2, put a cherry stone up her nose. Took her to the GP who sent us to A&E where she sneezed it out.

I think my first was when my toddler swallowed a 5p coin (came through the next day very tarnished ). Had been to the GP before that for brocoli stuck up the nose (well it makes a change from beads !).

I remember the A&E nurses saying to me - 3 boys ? Oh, we'll probably be seeing a lot of you then.

The only time we have had an ambulance was 3 year old DS with sudden onset of croup (had no idea what it was - thought maybe asthma) in middle of night. They put him on a nebuliser in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.

DS - 4 months old with a possible head injury from falling backwards off my lap onto the floor. It was the first time he had sat up unsupported and I was so excited that I leaned over to pick up my camera and he toppled over backwards I drove him to hospital myself, in floods of years because I thought social services would take him away from me. He was absolutely fine but I did get a visit from a health visitor, who double-checked my story and read me a lecture on home safety.

My daughter was 13wks. Her bouncy chair collapsed and the back of her head hit our concrete floor, she was fine.

At 13 months ds taken to out of hours GP with 41 temp of 2 days, whisked to a&e next door, much blood taken, lumbar puncture done and admitted with viral meningitis & pneumonia. Most terrifying time of our lives.
Sad to say his own GP had missed any signs of either infection and put it down to an upper respiratory wheeze. Ds was so brave - he never stopped eating & even smiled for us.

DS1's first A&E trip was relatively recent - about 2 months ago, when he was 3.8. The 'booking-in' nurse at A&E seemed to think we had done relatively well to get to that age without previous trips there!

We went because he fell over whilst running inside (despite being repeatedly told not to do this) & he bit his tongue, making an incision of about 5cm & quite deep, though not all the way through. We initially went for an emergency appointment with the GP, who said we would have to go to A&E in case he needed stitches. He didn't, although they said that had the wound been any larger, they would have done. It healed within about a week, but there is still a faint scar there now.

DS has had 4 trips and he's only 4

First was when he was 2 weeks old, I had him on my hip and was making a cup of coffee. In my sleep deprived (and, to be fair, generally clumsy) state I somehow knocked the cup of coffee off the counter towards myself. I shouted in surprise, DS screamed, I panicked and ripped his babygro off thinking I'd burned him, ran around to the neighbour's to take me down the road to A&E.

Turned out that the vague red mark I could see on his foot was just a red mark, and I'd actually scalded myself enough (in two separate places!) to need medical treatment but not noticed because I was too busy worrying about him!

DS is 23 years old and has never had a trip to a&e
DD went when she fell down the stairs at 13 months. She fell top to bottom but didn't even have a mark on her and her xrays were clear.
I have never been to a&e either.

DS who is 6 has never been and DD who is 3 had her first visit on Friday. She fell out of a ball pool at a play session and banged her head on the floor. She was okay for about half an hour and then completely flaked out. Resulted in a trip in an ambulance and a CT scan. I have also aged 10 years. She is fine now.

At 13 months he was jumping on the couch (on Daddy's watch), fell off at a funny angle and cut the outer corner of his eye. Looked much worse than it was and I freaked out and whipped him down there.

At 23 months we went to spend a weekend at a friends house in Cornwall and he followed their older toddler up the stairs, fell back down again and hurt his ribs and collarbone. I should have thought to block off the stairs as we live in a bungalow and he's not used to them but I didn't. He had to have an X-ray and I couldn't be in the room as pregnant. He was fine but the guilt nearly killed me.