There is nothing worse than waking up to the sound of your kid throwing up in their crib. And then screaming their head off for the next thirty minutes while they keep throwing up.
We’ve all been there and it is miserable, right?
We spent the next day snuggled in bed watching tv and periodically making a run for the bathroom. It seemed like everyone’s kid had the 24 hours stomach bug, so we just waited it out. Day one ended and we thought it was over. Then it all started over again the next day. And the next day.
I thought I was on top of his sickness, monitoring his fluid intake, checking his diapers and making sure he was comfortable with Tylenol and Motrin.
But by late afternoon on day 3, Parker was laying on the floor of the den watching “Bubble Guppies” and couldn’t muster the energy to get off the floor. Then I realized I hadn’t changed a wet diaper in over 12 hours.
Oops.
After a quick call to the 24 hours nurse at the doctors office, we made the decision to head to a pediatric urgent care. The buzz in the neighborhood was that there was a new pediatric urgent care in the neighborhood. We hadn’t had any friends use it yet, but we weren’t impressed with the urgent care we had taken him to when he was a newborn with pink eye.
Boy am I glad we tried out a new pediatric urgent care because Medical City Children’s Hospital Urgent Care was top notch.
From the moment we stepped in, I felt safe, cared for and at ease. They had a wide open waiting room for kids to run around (because of course my son perked up as soon as we got there). There was a big TV in the corner tuned to kids shows.
And here’s the best part. From the minute we stepped foot in the door to when we were called back was 8 minutes. I’m not even kidding.
The nurses chatted with us and made us feel completely at ease while they did an initial assessment of Parker and asked us questions about the past 72 hours. When they left, they flipped on yet another TV (in our exam room!) and handed us the remote control. Score.
Too bad we didn’t have time to even find a show for him to watch, the doctor was in our room in minutes! She checked Parker out, asked us some questions and let us know our next steps (Parker was only moderately dehydrated, thankfully. We were sent home with strict instructions to force feed him pedialyte every 2 hours with a syringe. Fun fun fun.) She then patiently answered our questions for the next 10 minutes. She never once looked at her watch, seemed impatient or told us to ask a nurse. She answered Every. Single. Question we asked her.
We walked out of urgent care 43 minutes after we walked in. The nurses had even convinced Parker to eat a sucker and given him a sticker.
I’m so grateful for another option in the DFW area to take sick kids to after hours, because let’s be honest, kids never get sick while the doctor’s office is actually open.
Medical City Children’s Hospital of Dallas is open weekdays from 4:30-11pm and weekends from noon-8pm.
I can’t highly recommend this new urgent care option in Dallas enough!
*Disclaimer: Medical City Children’s Hospital Urgent Care has absolutely no idea who I am. I was not compensated for this post. I just wanted to pass along another option to DFW momma’s for when their kiddos are sick! And if you need a second completely unbiased opinion, check out Sally’s ER visit here*
