Another Badge Earned

I earned another badge as a mom yesterday. We had our first emergency room visit...

The day started out like any other day. It was my turn to teach Joy School (Audrey's preschool group). We had just gotten through our welcome routine and I was reading a book about the number 2. Ian was walking around pushing his airplane. I then heard a bump and a very loud, sad cry. I rushed over to Ian in the entry way and there was blood on the tile. I picked him up, rushed him to the kitchen sink, and took stock. It wasn't good... Blood was coming from his mouth and chin. On closer inspection I saw a pretty deep gash right under his chin. So, the rest is kind of blurry for a bit. But I called my friend Allie and asked her to take me to the hospital. (Lucky her, she always gets calls like these, like when my water broke with Ian.) She said she'd be right over. I walked over to my next door neighbor, Alice, who graciously helped me gather myself, Ian, and the things I may have needed at the hospital. The three little ones went over to Alice's house. Allie was here ready to take me. I held Ian in the back seat while she drove and her 3 year-old son was so good. During the 10 minutes it took to get to the hospital I got a hold of one of the moms to pick up her son and the other one got messages left. So grateful I knew the kiddos were in good hands with Alice. I also called Andy at some point. He wondered if he needed to meet me at the hospital. I told him I'd let him know...

Once I got all checked in at the ER desk, we waited for about 45 minutes. The bleeding had stopped by the time we got to the hospital. Not bad... Allie stayed with me the whole time and it was so nice to have someone there with me. Weston was so good. Luckily minor care opened up at 11 am, which was about the time we were called back. I had to wait awhile once I got to the room. Something about their computers not working. Not sure why I had to wait for that... But once they got up and running, Ian was super-glued and discharged. We were probably there a total of 2 hours. Ian did so good while they cleaned him up and put the Dermabond on. He just laid on the bed and looked up at the doctor and nurse.

I'm not a fan of graphic pictures, but here's one of Ian playing with his car on his hospital bed:

Here he is on the drive home, sound asleep:

Ian transferred to his crib well and took a 3-hour nap. I collected Audrey from Alice and enjoyed the stories she had to tell me about the kids. At one point she asked Laci for her phone number. Laci said 7 numbers, so Alice asked her if it was 713 or 832. And Laci said it was 832. Alice tried the number and of course it was a wrong number... Funny kids! They were all picked up within 30 minutes of Alice taking them.

Ian was in a great mood the rest of the day. He even played outside a bit early that evening:

End of story, right??? Not quite... At bedtime, I put Ian's PJs on, set him down on the ground in his room, and then headed to the bathroom to brush the girls' teeth. He crawled into the bathroom to join me. One of the girls commented that there was blood on his shirt. I had read in the discharge papers that that could happen. I wasn't too worried. I blotted it and blotted it again and blotted it again. Still bleeding. On closer examination I noticed that it was totally split open. It's 8 pm and I have to take him back to the hospital. I called Andy and told him he needed to come home. Luckily that only took about 15 minutes. Once he got home, I headed to the hospital. I had called the hospital while waiting for Andy to get home and they said they would do it again if I would get there by 11 pm. Around 9:30 pm a nurse came out to confirm that I wasn't some overcautious mom. And sure enough, it was split... So, she took me back and they super-glued him again. This time they put it on real thick... Ian wasn't as cooperative this time. The hospital was nice and didn't make me fill out all the paperwork again. When Ian and I got home around 10 pm, there was a sweet note left by the girls:

You'd think my boy would have slept in this morning, but he didn't. He was up at 7 am, ready to face the day. We first went to the dentist (his bottom right tooth is loose). His tooth is now moved forward a little bit. We get to play the wait and see game for the next 2 weeks. It may just heal on its own and it may not. I feel like a super paranoid mom not letting him put anything in his mouth... It's crazy! In 2 weeks the dentist will do x-rays to see how everything has healed up. He didn't want to do any today, because he didn't want to do any more damage. Ian may have broken the bone under his tooth. After the dentist we headed to the pediatrician. On the way, Ian took a little snooze in the car. Poor baby, he was exhausted already. Pediatrician visit was kind of a waste of time. More of a formality. She said it looked good and if I was concerned about anything in the next week or two to come in again. 

So now I'm a super paranoid mom. I feel like all my time is taken up watching Ian. Making sure he doesn't bump his chin, or try to chew on some hard toy, or scratch at the Dermabond, etc... Hopefully in a day or two, I'll feel more relaxed. And hopefully my little boy that just barely got his tooth 2 months ago, is able to keep it. I'm so grateful for the many friends and neighbors I have around me.We feel blessed and are grateful that Ian's on the mend.