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I would dial 911 first, call a friend trusted friend who is close by, and then if I could manage, knock on my neighbor's door and explain the situation. Hopefully by the time the ambulance has arrived, friend has arrived or neighbor can step in and leave once friend arrives. I imagine plenty of SAHMs have emergencies without backup childcare and I'm sure law enforcement or first responders have dealt with it.

On a related note, I leave a folder stuck to the fridge door that has DS' insurance card, directions to the 2-3 closest hospitals, the contact information for his doctor, and a medical treatment release for him to be treated in case of HIS emergency.

One of my best friends lives down the street from me and is also a sahm, so depending on the emergency and urgency, I would call her. If she was away, I guess my toddler would come in the ambulance? I'm sure it wouldn't be the first time this happened for the EMTs, right? I don't know my direct neighbors well enough to ask them to stay really- though I think my direct next door condo neighbor is pregnant so I really want to be friends with her

I ended up at the ER following being shocked by our clothing dryer. I took my boys with me. They did fine while I was looked over. I had no option, the hospital was great at helping me.

Eta: I drove myself to the er. Probably shouldn't have but it turned out fine.

I would take her to a neighbor or to her in home daycare a few blocks away. Or just turn on Frozen on repeat.

I would take the kids with me and figure out something once we got to the hospital.

My neighbors would totally help. They're great.

i would take my daughter and figure out a plan B if needed as we don't have any neighbors that we know anymore.

My parents live 10 min away so I'd call them to see if they could come watch the kids. If not I'd take them with me to the ER and hopefully my parents, or someone, could come help eventually.

@gingerbebe: That's really smart. I carry insurance cards in my wallet and have an ICE number (my husband's mobile) on my phone lock screen, but hadn't considered having a go pack like that accessible for emergency personnel to discover.

I've been in this situation when DD1 jumped off the back of a sofa directly onto her forehead a few days before her second birthday. My friend and my babysitter both happened to be home with me, so they stayed with DD2 (who was only a month or two old, so I didn't want her in the ER) while I took care of LO2. But if I were totally alone...they'd probably go with me, depending on how severe the emergency was and how quickly I could get alternative care. Most likely I'd call someone on the way to meet me and take the unaffected LO(s) home.

I think about this often mostly because I wonder about carseats in an ambulance! When my daughter was 4 days old, I had to call 911 and was rushed to hospital. My DH called his parents to come but they live an hour away so my poor husband had to stay home with our brand new babe and watch me leave! I think about what would've happened if I was alone with her all the time! I assume a paramedic may have stayed with her? That would've been significantly more awful.

I have a couple of co-workers who live in the same area. I would probably try one of them. We aren't super close, but I know they would help out if necessary.

I recently had an issue where I had an episode while alone with my kids and getting them to bed. As soon as it started I called DH to let him know and have him come home asap. I would have called 911 and then our neighbor if that turned out to be necessary. Luckily it was not so when DH got home he asked our neighbor to come over while he took me to the er. That only worked out because she was luckily working at home, which is not always the case. If it were really serious I would just see what the paramedics would suggest I guess or call another sahm mom friend.

Eta there was another time I got really sick when I was pregnant with lo2 and ended up going to the er for fluids. It was the weekend so DH was home but we couldn't get anyone to watch lo1 so he came with us until one of our friends was able to babysit. Not ideal but we had no other choice.

I would take the kids with me and call my in laws to meet me. If I needed to I could leave her with my elderly neighbor whom we chat with often and she knows, but it would have to be an extreme situation. I wouldn't want to make dd any more uncomfortable than necessary.

When I was 37 weeks pregnant, my husband broke his leg in two places playing hockey. I woke up at 3 am and realized something wasn't right, and called him immediately. Even though I did have neighbors who helped during this emergency, I couldn't ask anyone at 3am. So, I had to wait until they woke up and drove them (DD was 3 at the time and DS was 1) to the hospital with me. After that, I would have someone watch the kids while I went to the hospital, but I wasn't there when he needed me in the ER or when he went in or came out of surgery. The whole thing was very hard.

We have since moved and I don't know anyone here that I could leave my kids with during an emergency (shoot, I had to drag three kids to my 20 week anatomy scan yesterday, because we don't know anyone!) I would have to take them all! Sure hope I don't have to go to L&D unexpectedly....

@bluestriped bee: We would only call CPS in extreme circumstances - like a parent with absolutely NO ONE available to come by and pick up the kids after sevreal hours of trying to brainstorm someone or even having a plan (like, MIL is flying in and will be here in a few hours). While the patient waits for family or friends to come for the kids, we or someone on the staff would help watch the kids. I've definitely had coworkers take kids to lunch and sit in the waiting room with them for a few hours. It's not unheard of.

I just get a little defensive when people are like, "Oh you don't want a social worker involved" because, as I said, so many people assume that we're just going to come down and call CPS right off the bat. We get a bit of a bad rap sometimes of being the "Big Scary Social Worker Who's Going to Take Your Kids!" And that could not be farther from the truth of our role.

If I were not in good shape (and there was a time I did go to the ER and I was "confused", DH took me to the hospital), then I probably won't even have a choice. I would call 911 (If I could) and lay there. I don't think they'd expect me to handle the kid situation?

Back then with my ER episode, if I were by myself, I think I would have died in the house as i wasn't able to call anyone. Or LO would have died of choking or falling because I wasn't able to watch him.

If I were actually OK.... I am really thinking if I would take my kid or leave him with neighbor. My neighbor has a son who is 4 months older too, but they also have a new baby, and it would be a big favor to ask to watch a third child. I guess I could call my friend to come over to my house..... I guess my answer is, I would try to take my son with me to the hospital as long as I am in tolerable pain. Tough one. Hope it never happens to any one of us.