This conversation about NightLight Pediatric Urgent Care and emergency hydration is brought to you by the company. All opinions are my own. #ad
There are things that happen to your children that never leave your memory. Sometimes it is them standing on the stage and receiving an award for something amazing. Sometimes it is those first steps that are forever ingrained in our memory. Sometimes it is a mistake or misjudgment we made that caused them pain. For me, they are all there but the day that my daughter, Sarah, needed emergency hydration still sticks with me almost 8 years later. Why? Because at the time I was ill informed and had not made an emergency list of places to take little ones should an emergency arise. I didn’t have NightLight Pediatrics on my list, taped to the fridge and ready to go to when my child had a major medical issue. Because of that I caused her undue frustration and pain. I also learned that not every emergency room or urgent care clinic is the same.
Sarah was 2 years old. A lively, wonderful toddler that loved her milk. She is the middle daughter and, at the time, had a 3 year old sister and a 6 week old sister. One evening I noticed that her poo in her diaper was a little too loose. I put some rehydration pediatric drink in her bottle and made a note to watch her carefully. The next day it was out of control. No matter how much of the pedia drink I gave her, she still quickly expelled everything in a diarrhea mess.
As a mom, even a very tired one, I knew that dehydration was an issue for children. So I watched as everything I gave her came out instantly causing crying and a sore bottom. It all hit a peak on a that Sunday night, of course, when I noticed that she seemed lethargic and so unhappy. I told my ex-husband that I was taking her to the emergency room.
Not knowing any better I buckled her up, and her infant sister who was breastfeeding, and went off to the closest emergency care center I could find. I paid the $100 emergency room fee and sat and waited with a 6 week old on my breast and a very sick 2 year old on my lap.
They finally called us back after what seemed like a really long wait considering the waiting room was empty and, after hearing the story, said that Sarah was severely dehydrated and needed liquid pumped in through a needle.
The problem? They did not have pediatric needles. Nor did they have a pediatric doctor or nurse on staff. Despite that, they told me they could help and proceeded to poke my screaming 2 year old with adult needles over and over again until I finally put a stop to it.
The next option was to have my 2 year old taken by ambulance to Texas Children’s Hospital which was 45 minutes away. But my infant could not ride with me. So I had to call my ex-husband to come to the clinic, take my infant and follow me and my sweet little 2 year old, now with bandages and the beginnings of bruising down both arms, to the hospital.
When we got there, Sarah was admitted immediately. They had the best pediatric nurses, doctors and staff on hand. The looked at Sarah’s damaged arms and shook their heads. They said that the emergency clinic should not have even tried to poke her and had now done so much damage that it would be virtually impossible to hydrate her through needles.
They tried everything. Her toes, her hand, even behind her knees but she was so dehydrated at this point that they could not get a vein.
Eventually, a doctor came in and talked to me about an experimental treatment where they lay a bandage looking pad on her back and hydrate her that way. The pad was full of the tiniest needles and would hydrate her through her skin instead of her vein. I signed immediately and, 3 hours later, had a hydrated, happy toddler sleeping in my arms.
The things is, though, that if I had gone to an urgent care center that was especially for toddlers and pediatrics, this all could have been avoided. They would have had the expertise, the equipment and the staff that would have hydrated my child in a matter of minutes, not hours.
When I was touring NightLight Pediatrics I asked how this would have been handled. They pretty much told me what the hospital did. Pediatric patients are different. They need experiences people taking care of them.
Since then, knowing that a Pediatric Urgent Care is just miles from the one I went to is a huge help. Check the website for a location near you and put them on your fridge! When your children need emergency hydration or stitches or any other care, you can count on them. They are an extension of your pediatricians office and there to help the littlest patients have the best get well experience!
Leave A Comment