Well last night was...interesting. I'd probably come up with a better adjective if I weren't so exhausted.

Yesterday evening went pretty well at first. I blew bubbles for Veronica outside, and we were joined by Jeremy, the four-year-old boy next door. I had just agreed to an interview on Tuesday morning. And then when Jason got home, he held Veronica's hand and let her run to the mailbox. She slipped and fell, and got a big scrape on her knee. It was unfortunate, but it happens.

That should've been the end of the story, except for some notes about Neosporin and Band-Aids. But Veronica was crying off and on all evening about her boo-boo. She wouldn't put weight on it. And even though we put her to bed at the normal time, she woke up screaming and crying an hour later over "my boo-boo!"

Jason and I then feared that maybe she had broken something. Jason said she was acting just like his little sister Lynn did at that age when she had a broken collarbone. I reminded him of the time I had a chipped bone in my left pinky finger just from catching a dodgeball the wrong way in fourth grade. Without further ado, we packed her up and took her to the Children's Hospital emergency room. We got there at 12:25 a.m.

We waited and waited; it was packed. Veronica fell asleep in our arms on two occasions. We had appalling service, in the fact that no one came to check on us, no one kept us updated, and I had to ask for a blanket for Veronica twice. It wouldn't be so bad if she didn't have problems falling asleep in a strange setting and situation, and if she weren't in discomfort. You overlook these things until it's your kid, and then you just become livid at the slightest inconvenience. I think, though, that our biggest irritation was that there were only two doctors on duty last night (a Friday night at a busy children's ER, and that bad stomach flu Veronica and I had last week is still making its rounds locally), and that the entire actual process to make sure Veronica had no breaks took about fifteen minutes or so. (X-rays, examinations from the doctor, etc.) Why is the last part irritating? I'll tell you why.

We left after 7 a.m.

While Veronica got little sleep, Jason and I got almost none. (All the coffee machines were down too at the hospital, grrrr....) I have no idea how he drove us home, stopping first for some fast food breakfast and some baby ibuprofen for Veronica per doctor's orders. (Yes, six and a half hours to get the diagnosis of over-the-counter Motrin. Grrrrr.....) Veronica still had some discomfort earlier today - I'm thinking she had a bad inside bruise or something, and the doctor even told us to take her to her pediatrician on Monday if she still isn't better, as there may be a hairline fracture there that can't be discerned from her X-rays. But now she's running around in circles and acting fine, only crying about "my boo-boo!" once.

I know it was worth it just to make sure Veronica was OK. But Jason pointed out on the way home that he'd been awake, more or less, for 24 hours. "Good thing college prepared us for at least one thing," I said. He answered with "yeah, who thought it would've been parenthood?"

So that was our odyssey last night. Hope it makes sense; even after two long naps today, I'm still not up to par.