I managed to freak my family out this weekend with a trip to the ER, via an ambulance. Yeah, really. We got home late Sunday evening & I complained of not feeling well, at first I thought I'd inadvertently consumed milk, but my icky ears quickly spread to a sore stomach. Then my throat started getting sore, so I took some vitamines for a cold, had a shower & went to bed. A few hours later I told Mr S not to panic, but he was going to have to get me help.. now. My pain went from let's go to bed to this feels like labor pangs.

Mr S called non emergency help, who asked to speak with me. Then they told me I needed to get to hospital immediately. Only, Mr S doesn't drive, & there was no way in my current state I could have driven the 10 minutes either. So Mr S rings back non-emergency care & says, oh so politely, "What's the number for an ambulance?" Seriously, I laugh about this now, but I was in so much pain then I tried to kick him. Yeah, he had a duh moment when the girl said, "Um, 0-0-0." It's funny, you know, because they warn you in all the CPR & First Aid training that people will forget the number in an emergency & you must specifically say to them, "Go dial 911/000, & come back to me!"

I'm pretty sure it took the ambo an hour to arrive, but Mr S assures me it was only 20 minutes, which is still insane knowing I could have driven the speedlimit in less time then that. However, I had enough clarity in that moment to suggest Mr S call the neighbor in to watch the boys who were sleeping, thankfully {Thanks Allen!} & then ring his sister & see if she could relieve the neighbor until one/both of us could get back home {Thanks Adrienne!}. Thankfully everyone was available, because no one's doing much at 11pm aside from sleeping.

The medics asked me all the normal questions, & then asked me why I was breathing like I was. It's probably a good thing the poor guy wasn't in leg distance. They gave me a shot of morphine, which knocked me out badly enough I complained of a stiff neck & legs. The medic says, oh so calmly, "Yes, I thought that might be the case because you aren't breathing!" Yeah, I was a bit loopy. I was with it enough to answer all his questions. I fell asleep on the way to the hospital, but woke up enough to blurt out that I'd taken cold tablets & had forgotten to tell him. He wasn't bothered by it.

I ended up in hospital overnight, freaked a nurse out by being sick in the morning, confused them by not having any of the problems officially wrong that they thought I should have. They ended up releasing me with the diagnoses of a virus & to report back to them if I got worse. Now, every morning I wake up my kids ask me if my tummy is okay.