First ER Visit

I now know the parental terror of a middle of the night ER visit. We're all tired but fine, with details below.

While at a birthday party on Sunday, Ella fell backwards from the little picnic table and hit the back of her head on the table behind her (picture on left was seconds before the accident). She barely cried at the time, so I thought she was fine. So she went to school, came home and was acting normal on Monday until about 8:30, when I could hear her in her room choking and crying. She was projectile vomiting all over, sobbing and asking "what is it?" since she was too little to remember the last time she got sick.

So I took all her sheets and pajamas off, got her cleaned up, started some laundry and put her in my bed. I went in after 30 minutes to check on her, and she sat up in bed and looked at me and said she didn't feel very good and started to vomit all over my bed. I then put her on a cot we had used with her cousins in town, and covered everything in towels and put her to bed with new pajamas again. After only a few minutes she was puking again, but only the pillowcase took a hit that time. So I cleaned her up again and put her in bed and went online to check and see if I should give her juice, water, etc. Online I saw that you should call a doctor if there are multiple vomiting episodes after a head injury and the pediatrician said to take her in to the ER.

Ella was such a trooper at the ER, staying awake the whole 3+ hours we were there before being sent home about 3 AM. I forgot my cell phone in the car so Dan had no updates from 11:45 until 3. The doctor said it was a concussion and sent her for a CT scan to make sure it was nothing more serious. The kid hit her second wind from 2-3 AM while I was dozing off in our room - singing and talking up a storm. As soon as we got in the car though she was out and did not wake up as I took her up and put her back to bed on the cot. I spent the day at home with her and both of us are still sleep deprived.

On a brighter note, we had a great time with Ella's cousins in town this weekend. We packed in a lot, going to Shedd Aquarium, Navy Pier, the Children's Museum, riding the El train, bus and a water taxi on Friday, plus the Pumpkin Express and Rainforest Cafe on Saturday. Here are some photos!