Growing Pains

We went ahead and got our first emergency/accident taken care of this past weekend. I am told parenthood is filled with these kinds of incidents. I am not sure my heart can take many more of them. I am already sort of a frantic, busy, stressy kind of person anyway, so having a child have to have stitches in her head only accentuates those already less than favorable personality traits for me.

Frannie was doing some living room dancing/twirling and got a little too dizzy. We heard a head bump and then a cry. I must be honest. This is a daily occurence around here. Someone is always falling, tripping, slipping, etc. Toddlers are, by nature, clumsy. Usually these bumps and bruises can be solved by some kisses and a little extra TLC/lap time. This time was different. Veeerrry different...After SF lost her balance and hit her head, Phil ran from the kitchen counter to where SF was standing, he immediately called out to me that she was bleeding. It was A LOT of blood. And I mean A LOT! The cut on her head was actually small compared to the amount of blood that was coming from it. We got it to stop pretty easily, and then Frannie was perfectly fine. We put a small bandaid on it to keep it closed together. Phil and I could both tell immediately that it needed stitches. She was proud of her band-aid. She kept saying, "I got band-aid. Wush not got band-aid." Not because she wanted Rush to have one, mind you... she was just happy to have something he didn't have. Even in an emergency situation, you still have to be sure your brother doesn't have more than you, right? I called the Pediatric Clinic to see if they could see her rather than having to go the ER route. They do urgent care for kids there on the weekends. Thankfully, Mama and Daddy were able to meet us in the parking lot of the clinic to take Rush back to their house to play and watch Toy Story. I am not sure he would have been able to cope with the long wait... especially since I refuse to let them touch anything at the doctor's office.. including the floor. It would have been a long, boring wait for the little man. They took her, but we had to wait a while. I think it was still better than the ER waiting room, though. The doctor immediately said that Dermabond would not be an option because of the position of the gash, so stitches would be necessary. I was really hoping for the Dermabond solution, but the doctor had a good reason for not using it. Getting stitches just made it seem a little worse to me. I will not relive the actual "stitching" part of the story because it was completely devastating for all of us. It was very difficult to watch, and she was very much flipping out. (I kinda don't blame her, though... it was pretty intense. There were needles, shots, and something that looked like a small fish hook.) After all was said and done, she ended up needing three small stitches, but that was three too many for this Mama. The doctor said it will leave a scar, but we will do all we can to minimize that. The real challenge has been keeping this little live wire still so that we don't have to relive it. Phil warned her that if she hit her head again, she would have to go back to the doctor again. She said, "Uh, uh, I NOT go back to dotter 'gin." I think that sums up the feelings of the entire household. Of course, Dr. Fuller will have the pleasure of removing the stitches Friday. Merry Christmas, Dr. Fuller!!

Here she is:


P.S. Hydrogen peroxide will remove blood on contact from clothing and carpet... just in case you ever need to know that. Thanks for the tip, Mama!