Monday, April 16, 2007

When to call 9-1-1


I know I have a few in the medical profession reading this blog. So Jeff and I were faced with this question yesterday...when is it appropriate to call 911?


We were holed up in our house yesterday afternoon, listening to rain that had been falling HARD for the last 12 hours...at least. I was feeding the baby and Jeff was starting to make dinner. Andrew was playing happily by himself in his toy room (aka the dining room for most of our neighborhood's floor plans). When I joined Jeff in the kitchen to help put dinner together, I noticed how quiet it had gotten in the next room. I peek into the toy room. No Andrew. I look to see if he's gotten on the computer. No Andrew. Family room? No Andrew.


Jeff runs upstairs to see what's going on. What happened next is not for the faint at heart.


Andrew was...get this...reading quietly in his bed.


That's right. He'd gone upstairs all by himself, taken some books off his bookshelf, and cuddled up in bed to read. When Jeff asked him if he was feeling okay, Andrew said, "I just wanted to be alone".


We ultimately decided NOT to call 911. Although there was obviously something wrong with our 3 year old...who normally follows us around the house asking a bazillion questions and commenting on a kazillion other observations...we didn't know what the medical professionals could do for us. Oh, and it was raining BUCKETS on our house. (Apparently, this is what a nor'easter is. I've read about them in books, but never really had any idea what is was. BTW...it is now Monday morning...still raining. Although it has stopped pouring for the first time in 24 hours).


It was disturbing, but I'm happy to announce that after being asked 10 times if he felt sick, Andrew bounced back to his normal, social self.

3 comments:

Kelsey said...

Okay, when you open a post like that and then get to the part where you can't find the child - you might want to clue your readers into the fact that there's no actual emergency. I about had a heart attack over here, thinking something awful had happened!

I thought of you this morning when Harper woke up and knocked on her door to be released from her bedroom. Doesn't Andrew do that sometimes?

Erin said...

I agree with Kels, I got seriously worried at the beginning. But that's pretty funny. Andrew seems like such a big kid to me. But that's probably because Cal is still at the stage where he thinks books are for throwing or chewing on, definitely not reading.

Annie said...

As a token medical professional, I almost had a heart attack thinking you actually DID call 911! Don't put it past some people...example: the lady who goes to the ER with her vomiting 6 week old after feeding the child pork rinds. Seriously depressing. You have to fill out applications and have referrals to get a mutt dog, but anybody can reproduce!

Glad the little dude is really ok, just needed a little quiet time. Good for him!