…taking your child to the ER for the first time.

I had just set Ivy down in her swing last night and walked into the kitchen so I could give Damian his dinner when I heard her starting to fuss. I clipped Damian’s tray on and went to check on her only to see this:

(Technically I took this photo a little later. When I first saw her, the blood was smeared and flowing and dripping in her eye and I cleaned that up instantly.)

I admit, my initial reaction was to snatch her up and have a moment of oh-my-god-I-cannot-breath panic. A few minutes earlier Michael had gone out to the store for me and so it was just me and a mysteriously bleeding baby who was getting progressively more upset. After my moment I grabbed a washcloth, wet it and wiped the blood away. I then noticed her hemangioma had started bleeding. This was kind of relieving, I had read this could happen, though they normally are much much larger at that point.

I took that picture in the time it took me to set down the wipe and pick up my camera, it was bleeding that fast. I wanted the picture to take to her appointment with the specialist, something can be hard to explain. Then I put pressure in it, not so easy with an angry hurting newborn, I had no idea she could thrash so much. I nursed her at one point which calmed her down but the blood was still soaking through the cloth. After 15 minutes (eternity…) I checked it, the bleeding had no slowed.

I called Michael and told him to check out and come home and then reapplied pressure again. When Michael got home (15 minutes later) it was still really flowing. t was getting close to 20:00 so he called the nurse hotline our pediatrician gave us for after hours and gave them the information, they said they would call us back in a few minutes (wtf?) 15 minutes or so later they called back, Ivy was still soaking through the washcloth though it seemed to be slowing a little. They told us to bring her into Sacred Heart’s ER. I had a feeling this was going to happen so I already had packed the diaper bag and gotten Damian ready.

Then I called Andrea and Shannon, I left the both voicemails. I had held it together till this point but telling my best friends that we needed their help… I couldn’t even finish the messages. Andrea later told me all she hear was ER Ivy and Call Back before calling me (just a couple minutes after I left the message.) I asked if she would come help us take care of Damian in the ER. She said she would with Peter (her fiance, he also officiated our handfasting for those who were there!)

We have the Best Friends Ever.

In the car Ivy started to calm down and, of course, stopped bleeding. Though it was still weeping a bit. We decided to go anyways since the nurses had recommended it and were expecting us. Andrea and Peter met us at the ER (the emergency room on a Friday night, fun…) We were shortly moved to the children’s ER were we waited… and waited… Andrea texted Shannon to give her and update and let her know she didn’t need to come. I was expecting the long wait, not my first time I have been in the emergency room. My mom was right though, she told me when I was little and in the ER that I would not understand some things until I became a parent. In that moment I completely understood how my parents felt when something was wrong with me. My children were not even born in a hospital, this was literally the first time I have had to go to one with them!

Eventually the nurse came and took Ivy’s vitals and then we waited some more, then we were moved to a private room and a doctor came and checked on Ivy. While washing off her face she started bleeding again so she gave me some gauze to apply pressure and said she would be back in a few minutes. She gave Damian a popsicle and a nurse put Lilo and Stitch on for him. Between them checking on us and Ivy’s bleeding stopping it took about 2 hours, the gauze kept pulling off her scab so they gave us non-adhesive gauze (which still did but not as much.) Good thing because they were considering putting silver nitrate on it when it did.

I just wanted to say that the staff at Sacred Heart was awesome though at the time I didn’t feel they were doing enough (I figure this is a pretty common reaction) I was impressed with them. Not as impressed as I was with Andrea and Peter though! They stayed with us the whole time keeping our spirits up (and our eyes open) and helping care for Damian (who refused to sleep of course, too many interesting things!) Again, we have the Best Friends Ever.

Then we left, it was 12:04. I know this because I was waiting for my birthday to start! Now that the stress has passed and we know she is okay, I admit I am dreading the ER bill. However I am glad we went. The best birthday gift is knowing my baby will be okay.

So in a nutshell, what happened? Her hemangioma opened (she may have scratched it) and since it is a tumor made up of blood vessels it had issues stopping bleeding. We know how to stop it in the future at home (time and pressure.) This does increase the likelihood it will need to be removed but Ivy’s appointment is not until February 1st. Let’s hope this doesn’t happen again between now and then.