It Happened in TWO Seconds!

[AuntTami]

Isn't that what everyone always says when a kid gets hurt? "I took my eyes off of her for TWO seconds!" Yep..happened to me today. My heart is aching and I just want to lay down and cry because I feel SO bad about it!

So, it's lunch time, and DCG(2.5) is sitting in her chair eating her lunch(this is day number 4 of her eating her lunch really well and *would* have been day number 4 of no puking after eating!). I'm eating my lunch and I look up to see/hear "I'm puking" as she pukes everywhere. Came out of nowhere, she wasn't even crying! So I get her down from her booster, and since she was the only DCK here and I didn't want vomit all over my house, I tell her "strip and I'll get a rag so we can wash you up"... She takes off her clothes while I go get a wash rag, and I come back and set the rag on the table to clean the puke up off the floor with a different rag. She toodles over to the doorway and is standing near a baby gate that is blocking the doorway. Didn't think anything of it, doesn't EVERYONE use baby gates?

I stand up from the floor, turn around to grab the rag, and by the time I turned back around, she's standing at the baby gate with a busted open lip and blood running down her chest! WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED!? SHE DIDNT EVEN CRY UNTIL SHE SAW THE BLOOD!

I take a good look, and the ONLY thing I can think of is she must have fallen face first into the baby gate and caught her lip on one of the metal pieces that holds the gate together(It's an older wooden one).....So since I have a clean rag in my hand, I quick press that against her mouth and have my BF hold it there while I call her dad...Dad doesn't answer. I call again. No answer. So, I call Grandma. Grandma answers and says "take her to the walkin and I'll be there soon" So...Off to the walk in clinic we go...

Get to the clinic and they tell me that because it's her lip, they can't do anything and we need to go to the ACTUAL ER. UGH! So we head over to the ER, where we sit and sit and sit....I sat with her in the ER today for THREE HOURS! NO ONE could get ahold of dad and the hospital REFUSED to treat her without his signature. I have medical release forms signed authorizing me to seek treatment for her, and I have one signed authorizing grandma to make medical decisions for her, and NEITHER of these forms were acceptable for them....Which, I get they have to cover stuff on their end, but good gravy, what if she had been bleeding to death! Thank heavens it stopped bleeding minutes after it happened! But have you ever tried to keep a 2 year old contained in a waiting room with minimal toys, with a busted open lip for HOURS!? It's NOT pleasant!

So, we're sitting there and sitting there.... Finally at 2:20, they take us back to a room(we've been sitting in the waiting room since 12:30) Grandma FINALLY shows up at 2:40, and I'm LIVID by this point! WHY DIDNT ANYONE COME SOONER!? Even with grandma's consent, because they needed to sedate her to put a stitch in since she's SUCH an active little girl and wouldn't sit still for anything, they wouldn't touch her until dad got there....At 3:30 I complained to the nurse that "it's already been THREE hours, why are we still waiting!? Grandma is here now!" The nurse goes out and tells the doctor that I'm concerned about the length of time it has been and she comes back in and very rudely states "We have 24 hours to stitch it up before we have to worry about scarring" I just said "okay fine" and shut up because I was about to blow my top. This VERY active, VERY HURT, little girl has been held down for the last THREE hours, she doesn't want to be held, I don't want to hold her, and we're both getting stir crazy...Dad finally showed up at 4:00 and I left since I had another DCB dropped off at home with my BF at 1:30(His mom was aware that BF would be with him until I got home, she was fine with it)......He just came and picked up her stuff about a half hour ago, and said she ended up with 6 stitches and that she'll be here tomorrow, but that her grandma is going to keep her "next week since shes a nurse. at least until the stitches come out"

I know this *is* my fault and I feel TERRIBLE, but at the same time, this kiddo is VERY accident prone! She fell off the porch at her home last week and scraped up her nose and forehead too! If it isn't one thing, it's another. I was IN the room with her, less than 2 feet away, and I had my back turned for 5 seconds to GRAB A RAG! UUGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for listening to my vent!

[k.mcmahan2010]

I would at a center and had this happen. I was sitting on the floor with 3-4 kids (1 yr old) and before could catch her, one of them tripped over their own feet and put their tooth through their bottom lip.

[NeedaVaca]

As bad as it was to have the accident (and accidents do happen) what's unacceptable is that dad was unavailable for THAT long! I would be very upset about that!

[Cradle2crayons]

Isn't that what everyone always says when a kid gets hurt? "I took my eyes off of her for TWO seconds!" Yep..happened to me today. My heart is aching and I just want to lay down and cry because I feel SO bad about it!

So, it's lunch time, and DCG(2.5) is sitting in her chair eating her lunch(this is day number 4 of her eating her lunch really well and *would* have been day number 4 of no puking after eating!). I'm eating my lunch and I look up to see/hear "I'm puking" as she pukes everywhere. Came out of nowhere, she wasn't even crying! So I get her down from her booster, and since she was the only DCK here and I didn't want vomit all over my house, I tell her "strip and I'll get a rag so we can wash you up"... She takes off her clothes while I go get a wash rag, and I come back and set the rag on the table to clean the puke up off the floor with a different rag. She toodles over to the doorway and is standing near a baby gate that is blocking the doorway. Didn't think anything of it, doesn't EVERYONE use baby gates?

I stand up from the floor, turn around to grab the rag, and by the time I turned back around, she's standing at the baby gate with a busted open lip and blood running down her chest! WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED!? SHE DIDNT EVEN CRY UNTIL SHE SAW THE BLOOD!

I take a good look, and the ONLY thing I can think of is she must have fallen face first into the baby gate and caught her lip on one of the metal pieces that holds the gate together(It's an older wooden one).....So since I have a clean rag in my hand, I quick press that against her mouth and have my BF hold it there while I call her dad...Dad doesn't answer. I call again. No answer. So, I call Grandma. Grandma answers and says "take her to the walkin and I'll be there soon" So...Off to the walk in clinic we go...

Get to the clinic and they tell me that because it's her lip, they can't do anything and we need to go to the ACTUAL ER. UGH! So we head over to the ER, where we sit and sit and sit....I sat with her in the ER today for THREE HOURS! NO ONE could get ahold of dad and the hospital REFUSED to treat her without his signature. I have medical release forms signed authorizing me to seek treatment for her, and I have one signed authorizing grandma to make medical decisions for her, and NEITHER of these forms were acceptable for them....Which, I get they have to cover stuff on their end, but good gravy, what if she had been bleeding to death! Thank heavens it stopped bleeding minutes after it happened! But have you ever tried to keep a 2 year old contained in a waiting room with minimal toys, with a busted open lip for HOURS!? It's NOT pleasant!

So, we're sitting there and sitting there.... Finally at 2:20, they take us back to a room(we've been sitting in the waiting room since 12:30) Grandma FINALLY shows up at 2:40, and I'm LIVID by this point! WHY DIDNT ANYONE COME SOONER!? Even with grandma's consent, because they needed to sedate her to put a stitch in since she's SUCH an active little girl and wouldn't sit still for anything, they wouldn't touch her until dad got there....At 3:30 I complained to the nurse that "it's already been THREE hours, why are we still waiting!? Grandma is here now!" The nurse goes out and tells the doctor that I'm concerned about the length of time it has been and she comes back in and very rudely states "We have 24 hours to stitch it up before we have to worry about scarring" I just said "okay fine" and shut up because I was about to blow my top. This VERY active, VERY HURT, little girl has been held down for the last THREE hours, she doesn't want to be held, I don't want to hold her, and we're both getting stir crazy...Dad finally showed up at 4:00 and I left since I had another DCB dropped off at home with my BF at 1:30(His mom was aware that BF would be with him until I got home, she was fine with it)......He just came and picked up her stuff about a half hour ago, and said she ended up with 6 stitches and that she'll be here tomorrow, but that her grandma is going to keep her "next week since shes a nurse. at least until the stitches come out"

I know this *is* my fault and I feel TERRIBLE, but at the same time, this kiddo is VERY accident prone! She fell off the porch at her home last week and scraped up her nose and forehead too! If it isn't one thing, it's another. I was IN the room with her, less than 2 feet away, and I had my back turned for 5 seconds to GRAB A RAG! UUGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for listening to my vent!

FIRST, call the hospital ER and ask them what forms WOULD have been acceptable. For future reference had it been life or death they would have treated her without dad. For my kiddos, I have NOTORIZED very detailed forms for medical treatment.

SECOND, I would have BLOWN MY LID if a parent took that long. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't have taken her from my house since it wasn't life threatening and didn't really need IMMEDIATE treatment. I'd have told Grandma that my policies state that when they are called for pickup, they have X minutes to arrive. After that, I call the authorities. Also, there's a charge for taking more than X minutes to arrive. I would make it CRYSTAL CLEAR how I would be handling this in the future.

THIRD, I'm very sorry and I know that you probably freaked out. It's normal to feel that way though.

[Shell]

FIRST, call the hospital ER and ask them what forms WOULD have been acceptable. For future reference had it been life or death they would have treated her without dad. For my kiddos, I have NOTORIZED very detailed forms for medical treatment.

SECOND, I would have BLOWN MY LID if a parent took that long. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't have taken her from my house since it wasn't life threatening and didn't really need IMMEDIATE treatment. I'd have told Grandma that my policies state that when they are called for pickup, they have X minutes to arrive. After that, I call the authorities. Also, there's a charge for taking more than X minutes to arrive. I would make it CRYSTAL CLEAR how I would be handling this in the future.

THIRD, I'm very sorry and I know that you probably freaked out. It's normal to feel that way though.

Yes!

[CraftyMom]

FIRST, call the hospital ER and ask them what forms WOULD have been acceptable. For future reference had it been life or death they would have treated her without dad. For my kiddos, I have NOTORIZED very detailed forms for medical treatment.

SECOND, I would have BLOWN MY LID if a parent took that long. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't have taken her from my house since it wasn't life threatening and didn't really need IMMEDIATE treatment. I'd have told Grandma that my policies state that when they are called for pickup, they have X minutes to arrive. After that, I call the authorities. Also, there's a charge for taking more than X minutes to arrive. I would make it CRYSTAL CLEAR how I would be handling this in the future.

THIRD, I'm very sorry and I know that you probably freaked out. It's normal to feel that way though.

Now you got me wondering... I may just call the hospital here just in case I ever go through something like this.

I would be so furious at dad AND grandma for not coming sooner! I would not have been able to take the child to the hospital without calling MY OWN emergency backup to come stay with the kids. If my own person can come, the child's family better be here sooner than that!

[Leigh]

FIRST, call the hospital ER and ask them what forms WOULD have been acceptable. For future reference had it been life or death they would have treated her without dad. For my kiddos, I have NOTORIZED very detailed forms for medical treatment.

SECOND, I would have BLOWN MY LID if a parent took that long. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't have taken her from my house since it wasn't life threatening and didn't really need IMMEDIATE treatment. I'd have told Grandma that my policies state that when they are called for pickup, they have X minutes to arrive. After that, I call the authorities. Also, there's a charge for taking more than X minutes to arrive. I would make it CRYSTAL CLEAR how I would be handling this in the future.

THIRD, I'm very sorry and I know that you probably freaked out. It's normal to feel that way though.

Our local health systems do have forms that I have filled out and CLAIM that they will honor them if their OWN forms are used for authorization. I pray that I never have to find out if that's true.

[AuntTami]

FIRST, call the hospital ER and ask them what forms WOULD have been acceptable. For future reference had it been life or death they would have treated her without dad. For my kiddos, I have NOTORIZED very detailed forms for medical treatment.

SECOND, I would have BLOWN MY LID if a parent took that long. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't have taken her from my house since it wasn't life threatening and didn't really need IMMEDIATE treatment. I'd have told Grandma that my policies state that when they are called for pickup, they have X minutes to arrive. After that, I call the authorities. Also, there's a charge for taking more than X minutes to arrive. I would make it CRYSTAL CLEAR how I would be handling this in the future.

THIRD, I'm very sorry and I know that you probably freaked out. It's normal to feel that way though.

That's an excellent idea and I will be calling tomorrow for sure! But I don't know if *any* form would have been accepted. Their reasoning for not accepting my papers or accepting grandmas signature was because she needed to be sedated to get the stitches in so I guess it was more complicated than my papers allowed for? Idk. My paperwork authorizes medical treatment, hospitalization and surgery so I'm not sure what else they would have needed!

I did almost blow my lid. I was *very* close to it. The ONLY reason I took her in was because she was the ONLY one here at that time so I didn't *think* it would be a big deal. I thought I'd take her in, and grandma would show up soon after to take over and I could go back home to take care of my DCB that showed up st 1:30. Haha. That was a joke. Thank god my boyfriend had a personal day to use at HIS job so he could stay home and wait for DCB while I was stuck in the hospital! I never would have taken her if I knew I would have been there for 4 hours waiting for dad!
It wasn't a life threatening injury no, but it was a pretty big chunk taken from her lip and I knew as soon as I saw it that it needed stitches. I didn't think it would need 6 though, I thought one or two!
I will be revamping my policies to include NO NON LIFE THREATENING TRANSPORTATION. I will not be doing this again. SOMEONE better come pick the kid up and take them if they need it.

Grandma is going to keep her next week and dad isn't sure if she'll be coming back. Idk what to do at this point. Accidents happen, I know it happened on my watch, but it COULD have happened anywhere. I've had so many problems with this DCG and DCD and she hasn't even been here two weeks! IDK what to do at this point. I guess we'll see if she comes back.

[CraftyMom]

So why is she coming tomorrow but not next week?

[AuntTami]

So why is she coming tomorrow but not next week?

She was going to come tomorrow originally but dad said grandma is keeping her tomorrow too so she won't be here tomorrow either but originally she was going to come tomorrow but not next week and I'm not sure why. Dad said "because grandma is a nurse" something about the stitches.

[nannyde]

Be prepared for them to pull her. They now have a week to find care. Don't offer to pay for anything. Wait.

I would not be able to offer services to a family that was unable to provide immediate medical care. The Dad would have to come immediately. He didn't so they would be termed.

[Thriftylady]

Be prepared for them to pull her. They now have a week to find care. Don't offer to pay for anything. Wait.

I would not be able to offer services to a family that was unable to provide immediate medical care. The Dad would have to come immediately. He didn't so they would be termed.

Then shouldn't grandma had known there would be an issue and how to handle it?

[AuntTami]

Be prepared for them to pull her. They now have a week to find care. Don't offer to pay for anything. Wait.

I would not be able to offer services to a family that was unable to provide immediate medical care. The Dad would have to come immediately. He didn't so they would be termed.

I figured that was going to be the outcome. I can't say it truly breaks my heart, but she is a sweet kid, as long as its not meal time. And I didn't want THIS to be the way things ended, obviously. But you're totally right in that they should have came IMMEDIATELY and didn't, which is just another strike in the list that grows longer by the day, which is why I say I won't be totally heart broken about them pulling her.
I HAVNT offered to pay for anything. I had him sign a liability waiver, and she's completely covered under state insurance so what would they want/need? They didn't pay a deposit.

[AuntTami]

Then shouldn't grandma had known there would be an issue and how to handle it?

I guess I should hav specified.... There are 2 grandmas. One is a nurse who I met for the first time today, the other is the grandma she lives with who isn't a nurse but is the authorized emergency contact. Sorry. It's a HUGE mess.

[snbauser]

:hug: :hug: I'm sure you are emotionally drained and accidents happen. I would be livid that no parent felt it was urgent enough to come right away and take care of the poor child.

Also, not sure where you are located and if you are licensed or not, but if you are under state regulations, make sure you fill out an incident report and contact your licenser.