A Trip to the ER

Let me preface this post by saying that I wouldn't even be telling this story if I didn't have Jerry to verify that I am not, in fact, crazy.

I kicked ass today.  I got so much cleaning done.  I felt like my old pre-pregnant self again.  Better than my pre-pregnant self.  I practiced handwriting with Roo.  I made hotel reservations for my upcoming trip to the city (just  me and the kids--should be interesting).  I scrubbed the mud room free of all the spring mud.  After a rough night, Tanner slept like a baby all day.

Around the time I was getting ready to start dinner, he started to fuss.   A really high-pitched type of fuss.  When I opened his diaper I almost fainted.  His scrotum was hugely swollen on the right side all the way up into the crease of his groin and slightly discolored.  

I freaked, you guys.  To be honest, one of the things that made me apprehensive about having a little boy was dealing with the boy parts.  All the nursing school textbook stories of undescended testicles, circumcisions gone wrong, circumcisions gone right, varicoceles, and inguinal hernias really scare me.  I knew he didn't have a fever.  I knew he was peeing, pooping, and eating on schedule.  But he looked a bit pale when I thought about it and combined with the high-pitched cry and the obvious sudden discrepancy down there...yeah.

So...now Tanner clearly has some sort of inguinal hernia (at best) or testicular torsion (at worst) going on.   

Jerry arrives home and I open his diaper to show him the goods.  We head to the ER.  Tanner, finished with his baby-rant, passes out again.  Tanner dozes peacefully in his car seat.

We arrive at the ER.  Tanner wakes up and proceeds to smile at the receptionist and a nurse who comes over to check him out.  Obviously not in distress, we are shoved in a room and wait over 2 hours to be seen. Tanner stays awake the entire time, staring at the world in sheer contented wonder. 

And...his parts look completely normal.  Seriously.  The PA was looking at me like, "Why are you here?"  and then she recommended I follow-up with his pediatrician.

I mean, I'm thrilled that this trip to the ER didn't end with someone getting airlifted to a larger hospital (because that happened recently, remember?).  Or with emergency surgery on my infant son.  But I felt like an idiot because there really didn't seem to be anything wrong with him.  And I'm an RN.  I feel like I should know better or something.

On the way home I asked Jerry about 6 times, "I mean, it WAS swollen right?"  and every time he agreed with me that it had been. 

So I guess I'll call his pediatrician in the morning?  It should be interesting trying to relay this little story to her.  For now I'm just glad that my baby seems to be ok.