Scariest Parent Moment

Matt and I had our scariest moment as parents last night on New Year's Eve. We had plans to go to dinner and hang out with Trisha and Nate and Rob and Katie. We dropped Andrew and Ella off with my mom and headed over to Washington. When I got in the car, I checked my phone and had 3 missed calls from my mom and a text that said "U need to call asap". That was scary! My mom doesn't usually call and definitely doesn't text. I called her immediately and she said that Ella just started screaming, grabbing her belly, and pulling her pants down. My mom checked her over and found a large, soft lump above her pelvic bone off to the side. She said it was causing obvious pain to Ella and that Ella would not let her put her down and didn't want her to touch it. We dropped Nathan and Trisha off at Aldo's and headed over to my mom's. It was the longest ride from Washington to Union I have ever made. And only having coffee (which I very rarely drink) on an empty, nervous stomach is not good....I wasn't feeling so well!

By the time we got to my mom's house, Ella was asleep in my mom's arms and when we went to look at the lump it was gone. Matt guessed it could be a hernia, since it popped out suddenly but then went back in when she was laying still. I spoke with the on call pediatrician and she said she couldn't say what it was without seeing her. She said a hernia was a good guess, but that there were other possibilities too. The doctor said since the lump had gone away and she didn't seem to be in pain any longer, it should be fine to wait and see the doctor on Monday. As long as the lump went back in, she didn't have a fever, and didn't appear to be in pain, it wouldn't be considered an emergency.

It was so hard because Ella really did seem totally fine. She woke up and immediately started playing. She was running around and talking as usual. That almost made it scarier....we had no signs of what could be wrong. It was really hard to let it go and not know what was going to happen. Especially since she would be going to bed. It was by far the scariest moment we have had to date as parents. It was so scary to think something could be really wrong with her and that we'd have to take her to the emergency room and she would possibly have to undergo emergency surgery. Ella has been totally fine today. No signs of anything. I will definitely still be taking her to the doctor on Monday and have her checked out. I hope it was some kind of fluke thing and nothing major. I really don't want her to have surgery.

It will probably be a New Year's we don't forget! I was so relieved we didn't have to take her to the ER, but it wasn't exactly easy not thinking about it all night. Happy New Year and here's to knowing that God knows exactly what will happen in 2010...now that's relieving :).