We had something very similar, years ago. Severe stomach pain in my 7 year old. We also went to the emergency room, thinking perhaps it was appendicitis.

The doctors called it constipation. Gave an enema, if I remember correctly. I'm not sure if that fixed it, or it was just "to do something". It probably would have gotten better by itself.

A friend of mine recently got bitten by a scorpion in the US, while sleeping outside (not in a tent because it was too hot).

He was unfamiliar with scorpion bites, and how serious they were. So, he went to the hospital emergency room, but stayed in the lobby. I believe he had a super high deductible emergency health insurance.

After a couple hours, the staff told him to leave, said if he hadn't had a serious reaction by now, nothing was going to happen, and nothing did. So, that's an option as well.

BTW - I've switched to the Crowd Health Black Swan plan. Crowd Health is a health-sharing plan (not health insurance, which allows them to avoid all the regulations), and the Black Swan plan is a very high deductible version of it. I haven't had any "health events" yet, but I definitely like the idea of it.

One of the most important (and hardest to hone) skills of parenthood is knowing how much to stall on the way to the ER. It's brutal. There's nothing quite like the feeling inside your guts when you are debating whether you need to take your child or not.

Children are incredibly unreliable witnesses to their own distress. I don't envy you yesterday's evening. But by the grace of God, there go I.

Your post made me reflect on the times things like this happened to me, and I came to the realization that the more kids you have, the more chill you become as a parent. At least that seems to be the case for me and my wife.

I remember bringing my daughter to the ER when she was 2 or 3, because she said it hurts inside her ears or something. She was crying but couldn't express herself fully. It turned out she had too much earwax or something like that. We ended up spending hours at the Children's Hospital ER room waiting to see the doctor, but she turned out to be fine. The only time I brought my older son to the ER was when his little brother pushed him off the upper bunk of the bunk bed and he hit his head on the ground. My older son was 8 at the time. He legit had an concussion and even lost memory of exactly what happened right after he hit the ground. That was a legit visit and the 8 hours wait time was justified, maybe? My little one is 7 right now and had never visited the ER.

Moral of the story, have more kids. Then you will see through all their drama. Haha.

Being a parent is an incredible experience, what happens is that what happened to you is the part that is not pleasant when your child tells you that he feels bad or gets sick and you despair also because you are a first-time parent, is it the first time that this happens to you? You should always take situations calmly between the couple and your child, of course when you see that it is a situation that is out of your hands you should take action but I always recommend trying to ask advice from people who have been parents or who have more experience, before giving him any medication. Calm down friend @Undisciplined enjoy the experience of being a parent.

Ugh these situations suck. We had something similar last month when my daughter had that bad cough. My wife ended up taking her to emergency at 2am. Ultimately they gave her an inhaler and told my wife to get her tested for asthma so I guess it was worth it but it was quite the ordeal.

So does Tylenol help with something like this??

Thanks for sharing!

Yikes. I hope it turns out to be nothing.

Using the breath to self soothe is a great skill to have! What a hero! 💪💡🤙