Hospital visit

We had a scary day at the park today. We were having playgroup and unfortunately it was the hottest day of the year so far. Thankfully, we were going to a park with lots of shade and we made sure to take some water. After we had been there for about 45 minutes, I went to the van to get our lunch. When I came back, Brooke complained that she didn't feel good and practically fell to the ground. I kept asking what was wrong, did anything hurt? She said her stomach hurt. Ok, well let's get something to eat. I had to almost drag her to the picnic table where she again collapsed on the ground. Thankfully, Stacey, who is a nurse was there and she came over and was talking to her and found her pulse, which was good. But she was very pale and her lips were WHITE. We sat at the picnic table for a little while until I decided it was time to go(and Charlotte had to go to the bathroom). I had to carry Brooke because she couldn't (or didn't want to) walk. Charlotte stepped in some mud on the way to the van. I was debating on whether I should take her to the doctor or not. On the way home, Brooke fell asleep. I didn't think that was good, but I couldn't exactly keep her awake. When I walked in the door of my parent's house, carrying Charlotte because she was filthy, and told my parents the situation my mom jumped out of her chair and ran to Brooke in the still running van. Her reaction scared me a bit and she agreed I needed to take her to Prompt Care. So off we went. I decided to go to the ER where there was also a Prompt Care. Wait a minute...weren't we just there last summer? I had to take Brooke to the ER last summer because she stuck a rock in her ear after playing with it at the park. She started to perk up by the time we got into the parking lot and starting asking about getting more stickers like she did last time. Anyway, when we walked into the ER, Brooke was shaking. I didn't know if she was cold, scared, or about to have a seizure. The nurses apparently thought the worst and we got right in. No waiting. Awesome. Compared to about a 2 hour wait last summer. She got to ride in a wheelchair, and she thought that was the best thing since sliced cheese. They checked her vitals, her temperature, and gave us a room. She got to wear a gown, again so cool. Several nurses came in, I told each one the story about what happened. They did an EKG, everything was normal. The doctor gave her a big glass of gatorade and wanted to monitor her for a little while. She was finally talking like her normal self and they let us go about 3:15, after only being there for about 2 1/2 hours. They said she was dehydrated and needed to take lots of breaks when playing outside and to drink lots of water. It probably wasn't really necessary to go to the ER, but I guess it's better to be safe than sorry. But she's fine now, and that's all that matters. I don't know what I'd do without my Brooke! At one point this evening she was just talking my ear off. And I decided it was better than what she went through today and scared me so much. I need to be more grateful for my children!

Here's Brooke showing off her EKG "stickers". We took some off her arms and legs, but the ones on her chest really hurt!

Showing off some of her stickers.
Charlotte showing off the stickers Brooke decided to share with her.

By the way, if it seems like I started to ramble a little bit, sorry. I'm really tired but wanted to write this all down mostly for journaling purposes before I forgot some of it.