By the time Del got down the stairs, Em was sitting up on the ground. She landed right on her bum and blew out the side of her diaper. Bubba? She was saying. She was looking for her bottle.
Del was so scared that he grabbed Em off the ground and ran back into the house before I could stop him. Em was reaching back over his shoulder still calmly saying Bubba? Nikki ran outside to get the trouble causing bubba.
Del brought Em inside and put her on the couch. I looked her over and told him we should take her to the ER for a few x-rays just to be sure everything was okay. Em was struggling to get off the couch, not crying, not upset in anyway.
Nikki on the other hand could have used a sedative.
The fall from the window to the ground was about 9 feet. Del had very clear rules in his house that the bottom part of the window was never, never to be opened. Dels former roommate became a beaten homeless man when Del got home from the hospital.
He hadnt been out of the Army to handle it any other way.
We took Em to the hospital. She didnt have a mark on her. It was amazing. Everything seemed like it was going to be fine, Del carried Em into the triage room with Nikki right behind them and a nurse handed me paperwork. I went back to the nurse and told her I couldnt fill them out. The nurse rudely grabbed them from me and began to read the first question.
Name? She snapped at me. I told her Emilys name and tried to explain to the snappy nurse that the problem wasnt that I couldnt read, it was that I wasnt her mother and didnt have that much more information about her.
How old is she? I didnt know for sure, young. Somewhere around 18-19 months old, I knew that much. I told her we could cut her in half and count her rings OR we could ask her father who was with her.
Well, when was she born? Look lady, I can read and I can do math. If I knew when she was born Id also know how old she was.
What is your relationship to the child? Apparently I am a complete stranger.
Just then I heard Em scream at the top of her lungs. I ran to the triage room with the questioning snappy nurse hot on my heals. She got in front of me and was trying to stop me from going into the triage room. At the same time Nikki swung the door open and screamed MOM! into the nurses backside.
I wasnt in there.
My foot was about to be if she didnt let me get to the screaming stranger/child.
The triage nurse allowed me in the room and the questioning snappy nurse took Del away to see what he knew about the child. Wobin! Em cried and buried her face into my chest. Hey! She said my name! Im not a complete stranger after all!
Em had weaved her little fingers around my neck and was bawling her eyes out. I couldnt understand why she was crying now, she hadnt cried at all during the entire window tumbling indent, what had happened?
The triage nurse made the questioning nurse look like Florence Nightingale. Are you her mother? She asked me. When I told her I wasnt she said Good and proceeded to tell me if Em didnt co-operate she was going to have to tie her down on a backboard. I didnt want her to do that unless it was necessary and asked her what she needed done.
She needed her oxygen level and wanted to put the meter on her finger. (The meter is a small clip that attaches to the patients finger. It has a magic light inside that can determine the level of oxygen in the patients bloodstream. It never breaks the skin, doesnt hurt in anyway.) Em was scared to death of the clip. Nikki kept putting it on herself to show her it didnt hurt, but Em was still scared. I asked Em calmly if we could put it on her toe.
She agreed to that and stuck out her foot with her arms still tight around my neck. For some reason, that really ticked off the triage nurse. Nikki was taking off Ems shoe when the nurse snapped at me. I want it on her finger! I am not using her toe!
If you want her oxygen level, youre using her toe. The way Em was screaming, wasnt it obvious that she was having no trouble breathing?
I picked up the meter and put it on Ems toe. The triage nurse started pulling on Ems arm to get her blood pressure. Ems response to that was to scream at the top of her lungs directly into my ear.
Breathing fine and dandy.
I told her to give the BP cuff to me, I would do it. She snapped at me that only qualified professionals could take a blood pressure. Nikki snapped back at the triage nurse, My mother is an Emergency Medial Technician, is that qualified enough for you?
Now youve gone and upset Nikki.
Take that you mean child torturing triage nurse.
I think the triage nurse assumed that because I wasnt the childs mother that I would have no problem tying her to a backboard to force these scary procedures on her. I would have agreed to assist tying her down because of her possible injuries, but not to terrify her.
I had a nice chat with her charge nurse later that day.
We survived the ER, Em was completely injury free. She kept telling people I food! (Translation *flew) I should have had a sneaking suspicion then that this kid was made for R&Rollercoaster.
Del had called Ems real mother, Misty and she was patiently waiting for us to bring her home. In my mind it should have been the nurses who were sweet and nice and the mother that was mean and snappy.
Ems mom, Misty is still one of my very good friends to this day. She completely understood that it was an accident, we had no idea the window was open and she saw how upset we all were. She handled the whole thing a lot better than I would have.
Nice way to get to know someone, wouldnt you say?
When Chris heard what had happened to Dels baby, he wanted to start wrapping her in bubble wrap.
So because of Ems flying without pixie dust adventure I started to relax about Del. I could see that we could become a family and it didnt terrify me anymore. Things were going along very nicely and some more time passed.
Dels birthday Nov. 26 1998 fell on Thanksgiving that year. We went to Kathys house for dinner. After dinner we went into her living room for a drink. Del was sitting in a overstuffed chair and I was on the floor by his feet leaning on his legs. He was playing with my left hand.
Just out of the blue he said Will you marry me?
Kathy screamed YES!
I sat there with my mouth open. After a few seconds of shock I asked him how much he had to drink. He only had the one in his hand. He was willing to take a sobriety test. He told Kathy to SHUT UP and asked me again. Will you marry me?
I started to cry and said Yes. Kathy went crazy, very excited about planning a wedding. She got on the phone with Lori to tell her about the up coming wedding.
We set a date for Feb. 14th, 1999, valentines day.
That is NOT when we got married. That wedding got canceled.
Del was so scared that he grabbed Em off the ground and ran back into the house before I could stop him. Em was reaching back over his shoulder still calmly saying Bubba? Nikki ran outside to get the trouble causing bubba.
Del brought Em inside and put her on the couch. I looked her over and told him we should take her to the ER for a few x-rays just to be sure everything was okay. Em was struggling to get off the couch, not crying, not upset in anyway.
Nikki on the other hand could have used a sedative.
The fall from the window to the ground was about 9 feet. Del had very clear rules in his house that the bottom part of the window was never, never to be opened. Dels former roommate became a beaten homeless man when Del got home from the hospital.
He hadnt been out of the Army to handle it any other way.
We took Em to the hospital. She didnt have a mark on her. It was amazing. Everything seemed like it was going to be fine, Del carried Em into the triage room with Nikki right behind them and a nurse handed me paperwork. I went back to the nurse and told her I couldnt fill them out. The nurse rudely grabbed them from me and began to read the first question.
Name? She snapped at me. I told her Emilys name and tried to explain to the snappy nurse that the problem wasnt that I couldnt read, it was that I wasnt her mother and didnt have that much more information about her.
How old is she? I didnt know for sure, young. Somewhere around 18-19 months old, I knew that much. I told her we could cut her in half and count her rings OR we could ask her father who was with her.
Well, when was she born? Look lady, I can read and I can do math. If I knew when she was born Id also know how old she was.
What is your relationship to the child? Apparently I am a complete stranger.
Just then I heard Em scream at the top of her lungs. I ran to the triage room with the questioning snappy nurse hot on my heals. She got in front of me and was trying to stop me from going into the triage room. At the same time Nikki swung the door open and screamed MOM! into the nurses backside.
I wasnt in there.
My foot was about to be if she didnt let me get to the screaming stranger/child.
The triage nurse allowed me in the room and the questioning snappy nurse took Del away to see what he knew about the child. Wobin! Em cried and buried her face into my chest. Hey! She said my name! Im not a complete stranger after all!
Em had weaved her little fingers around my neck and was bawling her eyes out. I couldnt understand why she was crying now, she hadnt cried at all during the entire window tumbling indent, what had happened?
The triage nurse made the questioning nurse look like Florence Nightingale. Are you her mother? She asked me. When I told her I wasnt she said Good and proceeded to tell me if Em didnt co-operate she was going to have to tie her down on a backboard. I didnt want her to do that unless it was necessary and asked her what she needed done.
She needed her oxygen level and wanted to put the meter on her finger. (The meter is a small clip that attaches to the patients finger. It has a magic light inside that can determine the level of oxygen in the patients bloodstream. It never breaks the skin, doesnt hurt in anyway.) Em was scared to death of the clip. Nikki kept putting it on herself to show her it didnt hurt, but Em was still scared. I asked Em calmly if we could put it on her toe.
She agreed to that and stuck out her foot with her arms still tight around my neck. For some reason, that really ticked off the triage nurse. Nikki was taking off Ems shoe when the nurse snapped at me. I want it on her finger! I am not using her toe!
If you want her oxygen level, youre using her toe. The way Em was screaming, wasnt it obvious that she was having no trouble breathing?
I picked up the meter and put it on Ems toe. The triage nurse started pulling on Ems arm to get her blood pressure. Ems response to that was to scream at the top of her lungs directly into my ear.
Breathing fine and dandy.
I told her to give the BP cuff to me, I would do it. She snapped at me that only qualified professionals could take a blood pressure. Nikki snapped back at the triage nurse, My mother is an Emergency Medial Technician, is that qualified enough for you?
Now youve gone and upset Nikki.
Take that you mean child torturing triage nurse.
I think the triage nurse assumed that because I wasnt the childs mother that I would have no problem tying her to a backboard to force these scary procedures on her. I would have agreed to assist tying her down because of her possible injuries, but not to terrify her.
I had a nice chat with her charge nurse later that day.
We survived the ER, Em was completely injury free. She kept telling people I food! (Translation *flew) I should have had a sneaking suspicion then that this kid was made for R&Rollercoaster.
Del had called Ems real mother, Misty and she was patiently waiting for us to bring her home. In my mind it should have been the nurses who were sweet and nice and the mother that was mean and snappy.
Ems mom, Misty is still one of my very good friends to this day. She completely understood that it was an accident, we had no idea the window was open and she saw how upset we all were. She handled the whole thing a lot better than I would have.
Nice way to get to know someone, wouldnt you say?
When Chris heard what had happened to Dels baby, he wanted to start wrapping her in bubble wrap.
So because of Ems flying without pixie dust adventure I started to relax about Del. I could see that we could become a family and it didnt terrify me anymore. Things were going along very nicely and some more time passed.
Dels birthday Nov. 26 1998 fell on Thanksgiving that year. We went to Kathys house for dinner. After dinner we went into her living room for a drink. Del was sitting in a overstuffed chair and I was on the floor by his feet leaning on his legs. He was playing with my left hand.
Just out of the blue he said Will you marry me?
Kathy screamed YES!
I sat there with my mouth open. After a few seconds of shock I asked him how much he had to drink. He only had the one in his hand. He was willing to take a sobriety test. He told Kathy to SHUT UP and asked me again. Will you marry me?
I started to cry and said Yes. Kathy went crazy, very excited about planning a wedding. She got on the phone with Lori to tell her about the up coming wedding.
We set a date for Feb. 14th, 1999, valentines day.
That is NOT when we got married. That wedding got canceled.
More! More!
