Ever been scared to death and completely mortified all in the same day? I have.

Yesterday was that day for me.

While running errands yesterday, Reed and I were at the mall and he complained "my back is hurting" while sitting in his stroller.  I just assumed that he was tired of sitting in the stroller, so I took him out.  He proceeded to run around and play normally.  He did his usual stay with mom for two minutes and then run off routine.

We left the mall soon after and once we got on 400 to head north to run another errand he was screaming in pain.  I too just assumed that he would prefer to be running around and not strapped in his car seat.  It got considerably worse as the drive progressed to where I was beginning to worry.  We got to our destination and I took him out of the car.  He just couldn't get comfortable.  He would lay his head on my shoulder and then start twisting around.  And he was screaming out in pain the entire time.  I tried to get him to run around and play but no dice.  So I called his pediatrician and they recommended that I come in at 1:45 (it was 11:45), for which I replied "I am not going to listen to him scream for two hours".  She said, in that case, you should take him to the ER.  So off we went.

Reed was absolutely miserable.  By the time we got on 400 to go south he had already manage to get his arms out of his straps, hanging over the side of the car seat, arching his back toward the car door.  I started to get scared.  If you know me, you know I always imagine the worse and this was no exception.  After talking to Chris, I decided to call 911.  We pulled over at a restaurant and waited for the ambulance.  During that time, Reed started to get very tired.  We were sitting in the parking lot at this restaurant and the poor little guy just laid down on the ground.  I got even more worried, as did the 911 operator.  She recommended that we be upgraded.  I don't know if that means extra help or get there in a hurry, but I appreciated it.  I really don't deal with things like this very well.  The operator told me repeatedly what a good job I was doing, but that wasn't very helpful.  I tried to manage to keep calm for fear of me passing out (I know, I need to get it together.).   Once I heard the sirens I felt so much better.  And Reed pepped up a bit.  He loves a big truck.  Both an ambulance and a firetruck arrived where we were at the same time.  It was nice to have all that helped, but it also made me a little scared.

They got him into the ambulance lying down on the stretcher and he was miserable again.  They took some of his vitals and then we headed into the hospital.  Reed screamed the entire ride there.  He was inconsolable.  He was screaming "I want to get out" by the time we got to the hospital.  I was thinking the same thing, but it probably isn't wise for a grown woman to act like that.

At the hospital, I was able to take him off the stretcher.  As soon as I did he passed gas, pooted, whatever you like to call it.  And then he was better.  Seriously?!?!  Seriously.  My kid, writhing in pain in his car seat, just apparently needed to poot.  We didn't know that this would necessarily be the cure-all, so they stuck us in a room where we waited for 4 hours.  In the meantime, they took an x-ray of his belly just to rule out a kidney stone and thank goodness nothing showed up.  He was a little lethargic the first little bit we were there, but then pepped up as the afternoon went on.  The doctor told us as we were about to leave that it was probably gas buildup and/or constipation and that maybe I shouldn't go to the mall anymore.  Haha, very funny.  The funny thing was that Chris had literally just arrived from his drive from Charlotte (yes, the poor guy jumped in his rental car and drove almost 4 hours because his kid had to poot), so we joked that Chris told him this before he came in the room.

So anyway, Reed is fine and I am a little, okay a lot, embarassed.  Hindsight being 20/20, I certainly wouldn't have gone to the ER or ever called an ambulance, but this kid was in pain and I didn't know what to do about it.  It is certainly better to be safe than sorry and I wasn't taking a chance with my baby.  Next time we might try a little poot-encouraging tricks (I don't know if there are any, but I am certainly going to look some up, lol) before getting so worked up.

A HUGE thanks to my Mom and my in-laws for trekking down to Atlanta to be with Reed and I while we waited on Chris to arrive.  It was so good not to be alone!!

Here's a pic of our little guy resting on the hospital bed.  There is nothing worse than seeing a baby in the hospital.  Notice the 'send' sticker on his shirt.  The salesman at Nordstrom gave it to him to try to stop his crying.  It worked momentarily.