We went to my parents house to swim and have dinner for the evening. While we were at the pool we had the discussion about how Grace was so fearless and she was unbreakable. She would always fall and get right up. Little did we know that statement was not going to be true for much longer. When we got back to the house for dinner, I stripped Grace down so that she could put jammies on. I went to pick out her dinner and then asked Eddie to put a diaper on her and get her dressed while I went and changed myself. I was still dripping from the pool. I walked into the bathroom got my pants put on and heard Grace fall and start to cry. This cry was no different then any other one that she would have when she would throw a tantrum so I didn't think much of it. Until I heard my Mom gasp and say "oh my god" and I knew something was wrong. I started yelling from the bathroom but was still only half dressed and couldn't move fast enough. No one would answer me so I wrapped a towel around me and ran out. Everyone was in the kitchen standing around the sink with terrified looks on their faces. I ran over and Eddie had Grace laying back over the sink with a wad of towels and the water running over her head. There was blood all over the sink. I stayed very calm knowing that water was going to make it look like there was a lot more blood then there really was. She was crying and scared and I noticed that there was stuff all inside her mouth. I got so scared and starting yelling because I thought all her teeth had been cracked off. Eddie quickly told me that it wasn't her teeth, she was eating crackers when she fell and then I say that the blood was coming from her eyebrow area. I ran back into the bathroom, got dressed and ran back to grab my baby. My Mom was running around trying to figure out what she should do and had ran and grabbed a wash cloth for us. Eddie kept applying pressure to her head and it wasn't until I was rocking her on the couch that I noticed that it wasn't a little cut but she had split her head open and it was the length of her eyebrow. I started to cry and started to shake. All I could do was apologize to her over and over again. That it had happened to her in the first place and that I wasn't there to catch her. I know she was just running into the bathroom after me. We gave her some juice and she calmed down and would only cry when Eddie would try and put the towel on her face. I didn't know what to do. I have never experienced anything like this personally so I had no idea if we needed to go to an ER, call an ambulance, go to an urgent care. I was so lost and scared. Eddie said that he wanted to take her somewhere because it looked like it was really deep. I tried myself not to look at it because it made me so sad. I asked my Mom to drive us since the car seat was in her car because she had picked us up. Looking back that probably wasn't the smartest idea because my Mom was really shaken up and I shouldn't have made her drive. But I didn't know where to go. My Mom knew where an urgent care was around the corner from her house so that was where I wanted to go. We gave her an otter pop to for the car ride to help keep her calm and it worked really well.
Loving her Otter Pop on the way to Urgent Care
As soon as we walked into the building, the nurses behind the counter ran back to get the Dr. to see if it was something that they could handle or if we needed to take her to the ER. As soon as the Dr appeared he didn't even have to get near Grace, he told me that she needed stitches so she needed to go to an ER because they weren't equipped to handle the procedure for someone her age. This really upset me and set off my tears. When we got back in the car I started sobbing. I could tell my the look of her injury that she was going to need stitches, I just wanted to be wrong. On the car ride over I was really panicking. Stitches?!? On her face! The scar it would leave! Was she going to have to have an IV?? Was I supposed to hold her down while they sewed her up?? She is going to be so traumatized! Because we were at my parents house Hoag was closest to us and the hospital I am the most comfortable with. I was dreading the waiting room. All the people, the long wait that was ahead of us and the nerves of what was going to happen was not something that I wanted to sit for hours and wait for. Luckily when we got there they took us back within five minutes of being there and walked us across the hospital and settled us into a room. I was surprised that the rooms were large for ER rooms, which gave Grace space to be able to move around. She was wondering around the room like nothing had happened at all. I was so happy that it hadn't fazed her in the least bit.
She's still smiling!
We waited a few minutes before the Dr. came in to see us. She was so nice, which made the whole situation that much easier. She started talking about what she felt need to be done. I was just sitting there trying to take in everything she was saying, not cry too much and becoming overwhelmed with the decisions I was going to need to make. They were going to sedate her to make the procedure easier on everyone so she started telling me about all that was involved with that. Did I want and IV or shot? She recommended a shot because she would just hate and try to pull her IV out. Anyone who knows me knows that I absolutely can not handle IV's so I was thrilled to hear that she thought a shot would be the easiest. Then she started talking about the side affects of the drug that they were going to be using. Her eyes might stay open and dart around the room, she couldn't drool a lot, she could have muscle spasms or tightening, she could need oxygen, and she might even cry because it causes nightmares, but she would 100% be asleep! This all was so much to take in! I couldn't imagine any of these things happening to her. They also said that she would have to wake up before we could leave because they needed to make sure that she was going to be fine from the procedure. She said that it was going to be more difficult to wake her because it was the evening and close to bed time so she was going to be tired and sleeping on her own anyway. Then it was the decision about whether or not I wanted dissolvable stitches of the kind that have to be removed. I thought that would be an easy answer, but when I asked her opinion she said she felt the kind that needed to be removed would be better for scaring because you can control when they come out rather then waiting days and days for them to dissolve. What was having them taken out going to be like? I knew that it would be a simple procedure, but would Grace allow it? Well, the Dr. recommended it so I went with her opinion. By the time paperwork was started it was a little after eight and they were going to get started around 8:30 and the whole thing should last about forty five minutes. They got Grace hooked up to the monitors which made her hysterical! She did not like the stickers on her chest and hated the one around her toe. We got her dressed in her hospital gown and I climbed in the hospital bed with her and laid her down on my chest so that I could try and get her to sleep.
Dressed in her hospital gown
Cuddling with my baby
My Mom left at this point, not feeling like she could handle being there. I didn't want her to be uncomfortable being in the room while it happened, and I did not want her to sit in the waiting room all by herself so I told her to go home so that she wouldn't feel like she was abandoning us. Of course as can be expected the "bus" came in with tons of patients that needed immediate care so our time got pushed back, which I was totally fine with. It gave us all a chance to calm down and talk about what was going to be happening and gave Grace a chance to sleep. At ten they entourage of Dr's and nurses came in to get started. My heart started to beat really fast. I just wanted this all over with. They gave her the shot in her thigh which woke her up in screaming tears which broke my heart. Within minutes she was completely asleep. Seeing your baby lye on a hospital bed sedated to where she not moving is such a scary site. She looked like she could have been dead. It was a lot to take in. Eddie couldn't handle it at first. He had to step back and compose himself. They got started right away on the stitches on the inside. I stood by the bed and held her hand the whole time. I really surprised myself being able to stand there and watch them put in every stitch. To take my mind off of what was actually happening I started talking to the Dr. and nurses. I asked them if any of them watched "Greys" and surprisingly they all did. I was a little shocked I must be honest. I wouldn't think Dr's would watch that show because it is so inaccurate to what they do. But let's admit it's such a great show that it's hard for most people to resist getting into it. About half way through the procedure Grace's started to wake up. Not fully be any means, but she started fighting being held down and started to cry. It was the saddest thing ever!! I felt so terrible because I couldn't do anything to help her. Everyone kept insisting that she couldn't feel anything and would have no memory of what was going on. After a few stitches and her fighting she cried out for me. I couldn't handle it. I broke down and had to step away for a minute to get it together before taking my place back holding her hands. Almost to the dot about forty five minutes later it was over. Twenty two stitches later, eight on the inside and fourteen on the outside we were finished.
Her Boo Boo :o(
They said that everything had gone perfectly! With the exception of her "waking up" I thought so too. There was no drooling or muscle spasms, and her eyes were closed that whole time. Thank goodness!!!! As soon as they cleared out I climbed right back in bed with her and wrapped my arms around her.
Sleeping Angel
We were soooo sad that she went through this
We stayed like that for about an hour and then it was time to start waking her up. For about half an hour we talked to her, rubbed her back and tried to wake her up. Finally we realized that we were going to have to try and sit her up and move her around a little bit. She started to slowly wake up but was fighting it. I mean it was after eleven so she was so tired. When I finally got her to wake up they told me she needed to stay awake for about an hour! What!?! Not only is she exhausted for the day and it's late but the medication was going to make it even worse. It was hard, but we wanted to get the monitors off of her and get her home to her comfy bed. She cleared all the tests that they had and kept down the juice that we got her to drink so it was finally time to go home! We got loaded up in the car and had to go back to my parents to switch the cars. When we got home and I carried her in and put her to bed. I sat on the floor for a little while and just sang to her and held her hand. I don't even feel that it actually happened at this point. Though I was just there, it seems like it was such a dream. It was such a long night and I was so relieved that everything had gone smoothly. Everyone kept telling me that it was going to heal really great and that the scar would be very minimal because it was up near her eyebrow so you wouldn't be able to see it. I don't know if I believe them! They way it looks now she is going to be Frankenstein! I know that bad bruising is still to come in the next few days. I just don't want her eye to swell shut. I am so proud of my baby girl. She was so brave, and smiled a lot while we were there. Everyone in the ER loved her and though it was crazy that she was in such a good mood considering what had happened. Something that I don't like about this whole thing is that everyone keeps telling me, with kids this is the first of many. Many?! It never happened to me! I don't ever want to go through this again. Something that really makes me sad too is that we had an appointment to go have family pictures taken this weekend. I have been looking forward to these pictures for a while and now they have to be postponed. At least until the stitches come out! I was always saying let kids be kids. Bumps and bruises will go away and I didn't want to be an over protective Mom and not let her just be a kid. But now that my child has been broken, I'm broken inside too. It's such a terrible feeling. I hate that this happened to her. I am just thankful that it is over and we all survived. Tomorrow will be filled with tons of kisses and lots of cuddles!
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Poor kid! She was SOOOOO brave through the whole thing! I think she deserves a Barbie Mustang! ;-)
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