What an experience...

Our little Ella had quite the experience this last week.  She fell at her babysitters and hit her head so hard that she fractured her skull as well as had a hematoma inside her head.  When we went to pick her up at the babysitter - she didn't see her fall but heard her and had thought she had only hit her mouth because Ella was holding the front of her face when she picked her up. She gave her some Tylenol and Ella was acting as crazy as usual - in a good mood and just having fun.  We took her home and she wasn't acting any different at home either.  The next morning when I went to get her out of bed, she kept pointing to her head and saying "owie" - Andrew felt her head and there was a giant squishy spot on her left side.  At that point panic set in and I told Andrew to get her to the ER - ASAP and I would meet him there when I dropped all the other kids off.  When he got her to the hospital they tried to do a CAT scan - you can imagine how fun that was for a 20month old - it took two tries and 4 different techs to finally get the job done.  When the results came back - they said we would need to go up to PCMC for observation because she had a bleed.  They wouldn't allow us to drive her, so Andrew and Ella got to take a fabulous ambulance ride up to the children's hospital.  Below is a picture of her strapped in her car seat on the gurney.  She was so mad because they had just put an IV in and she was pretty sick of being poked and prodded by everyone by the time we left the first ER. Anyway, we got up to Primary's and talked with a Neurosurgeon or two and they decided that they would keep her the night just to make sure everything was OK.  They said that it looked pretty good because she was so active and talkative but they just wanted to make sure.  Have you ever tried to keep a "supposed to be hurt but doesn't think she is hurt" baby still  and resting??  Yeah, she wasn't having any of it.  We took lots of walks around the halls and many trips to the playroom because she couldn't stand to be in the hospital room. She quickly one the hearts of the staff up there because she is just so darn cute!  She was talking and waving and laughing which is something I don't think the staff on the trauma floor see much of with their usual patients.  All in all - it was a scary experience but a good one.  We were treated so well and Ella was taken care of by some of the best doctors around.  We were able to have the kids come up on Saturday and spend the day with us while we waited to be discharged and they had so much fun in the big playroom.  We did go back yesterday for a follow-up and they said that the bleed spot is getting much smaller and that they expect her to make a full recovery - good news!! 

 Not happy camper heading up to primary children's hospital

She looked so darn cute in the hospital gown and pants - love that they make these things this size.  She was mad here because we had to come back to the room to meet with the doctors.

They had all sorts of toys we could "check out" at the nurses station - these little dolls were her favorite!

Her jail crib - this is her finally taking a nap after a very long day in Emergency.