Our Recent Visit to the SickKids Emergency Room

As a mom of young kids in Toronto, SickKids Hospital almost feels like a mandatory place to stop by at some point. I’ve visited the SickKids emergency room many times—mostly with my first child. But last week, we had to rush our younger one there.

That afternoon, we received a call from her daycare saying that her arm felt numb after nap time because she had slept on it. When we picked her up, she obviously couldn’t move her arm.

At first, we thought it was simply because she had slept on it and that it would get better soon.

But later that evening, she still wasn’t moving her arm. She cried whenever we tried to touch it.

Something was wrong.

We packed some water, books, snacks, and other things and drove downtown. My husband dropped my daughter and me off at the hospital, then headed back home with our son.

The Waiting Time

Years ago, when I visited the ER with my son, we had to stay until midnight before seeing a doctor.

You usually get to see a nurse pretty quickly. But a doctor? That can be a looooong wait.

This time, however, we saw a doctor, had X-rays taken, received the results, and finished everything within three hours!🥹

I was honestly amazed by how quickly we were sent through each step and received care.

We didn’t even have to use all the books and the drawing tablet I had packed for her.

We also didn’t have to pull out all the snacks my husband had packed for us—cookies, beef jerky (huh??? 😑), Bubly, and gummies. Wait a minute, did he think we were going on a picnic?

After years of ER experience with our first child, I guess we had become strangely relaxed about visiting the emergency room.

Since it was still relatively early when we finished, my husband and son came back to pick us up.

While we waited, my daughter and I ate gummies and beef jerky—things we normally wouldn’t eat at 9 p.m. We also took the elevator about seven times while waiting to be picked up.

She seemed to be quite excited and kept asking me why it was so dark outside. I think she might remember that night as a fun little adventure.

We asked her if she had fallen in about 20 different ways, but all she would say was that she had slept on it. At that point, I think the daycare explanation was firmly planted in her head. 😂

But while I was at the hospital, I saw so many sick children and tired parents staying up through the night, walking together through the hospital hallways. Watching them made me appreciate, once again, that my children are healthy. That our visit today was a minor.

Our unexpected nighttime trip ended with gummies, beef jerky, seven elevator rides, and a tiny wrist splint.

Not exactly a picnic—but close enough, according to my husband’s snack bag.