Annie's Stitches

We were getting ready to leave to get Ahren and Lydia from preschool when Annie fell and sliced her forehead open on the outside corner of our wood baseboard. Instant screaming and dripping blood was my first clue that this was not your regular, clumsy fall of my sometimes unsteady 2-year old! The bleeding didn't last long and we put ice on it while we drove to get the kids from school. She didn't seem to be in much pain and by the time we got to the Urgent Care she looked 'normal'...except for the blood matted hair on her forehead! We had to wait a while in the waiting room - I was almost wishing she were still screaming so they would have taken us sooner :) Tim's grandma (aka 'little great gra') met me there and after I nursed Maria, she took the other 3 kids home to feed them lunch. What a blessing she is!!

Annie was nervous, but when the dr. came in wearing the big magnifying glasses with a light on his head she really started to freak out! The dr. requested a second opinion from another dr. in the office and he agreed that the cut was too wide to 'glue' shut. Stitches would be needed. This was my first experience with stitches. I've never had them (except for my 4 c-sections) so the numbing needle was quite intimidating, even for me. We had to swaddle her and then me and a nurse practically laid on her to keep her still. After the area was numbed they put this drape over her whole face - that's a good way to keep a kid calm...don't let them see anything! I know it was for sterilization sake, but come on! I pulled it up so she could see me underneath, almost like we were playing peek-a-boo. The whole process took about 30 minutes, I think...maybe a little longer. She screamed the ENTIRE time. We sang "Mr. Moon", "Twinkle, Twinkle" and "ABC's". I couldn't even think of anything else to sing. She cried for daddy - he would have sang her cowboy songs...but I just don't know any...I couldn't even think of "Jesus Loves Me". We did pray together and ask Jesus to help us and be with us, to surround us with His peace. I don't think Annie really knew what I was saying - but I know Jesus helped me! I almost cried, but didn't. I made it...and so did Annie. She received 7 stitches that have to come out in 5 days.

Annie pre-stitches, chewing on her lambie for comfort. The orange stuff is betadine that the cleaned the area with.


Annie napping in her bed with an Elmo bandaid after the ordeal was over.