by Becky Robbins

Created on: October 17, 2009

As a parent, you are never prepared for the inevitable trip to the Emergency Room. Having a three year old and eighteen month old, I thought it would be a few years before I was faced with the injuries that lead to the Emergency Room. Instead I got to experience two visits to the ER, one for each child, within a matter of five days.

Here we are faced with a pandemic of H1N1 and my youngest fell and cut his eyebrow. Could he have lived without a visit to the Emergency Room? Probably. The cut was small, but big enough that it could not heal on its own. Besides, as a concerned parent, I wanted to make sure that there was no damage to his eye at all. So, in a matter of moments, both children were packed up and dragged to the hospital. It was in the evening and rain was coming down.

Entering the hospital, it took no time to get us pointed toward the ER. Cue the security guard. A quick explanation stated that children under the age of 18 were not admitted to certain parts of the hospital, due to the outbreak of H1N1. My oldest could not go in. Instead, he could only wait in this little area. Imagine trying to explain to Big Brother that he couldn't go with his best friend, even though "Brother" was bleeding.

Two hours of waiting, watching people come and go, and finally they took the little man in. I never knew that glue was the answer to all our problems. They put a little bit of glue on his injured eye and explained the care we needed to take with it. I have never used the Emergency Room, except briefly to check myself in when I had this little man. I cannot complain about the care, only that it took forever.

My oldest son managed to run out the front door of the hospital, scaring the same Security Guard. It resulted in being reprimanded, but a sharp tongue lashing to explain that this little boy has too much energy and can move quicker than I can at times, knows better than to run into the street. He only wanted to climb on the wall and jump up and down outside.

Turn around five days later and my oldest son introduce his tooth to the entertainment center. I have never experienced a tooth being pushed up into the gum and immediately called my pediatrician's office. The woman who answered the phone directed me to the Emergency Room because there was an office full of patients, mostly concerning the H1N1.

So here we were faced with an issue. Should we go ahead and take him to the Emergency Room or would it be better to consult a dentist. Well, we decided to err

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