A trip to the hospital...

Emily decided she wanted to have a hair-bow this morning. Little did we know that decision would lead to a trip to the hospital and five stitches....

She had been sitting in my lap while I was combing her hair. After I got done, she was told to get her shoes and socks to get ready for school. She got down, turned back to me and said that she wanted a hair-bow in her hair like yesterday... She took one step, which landed her leg against mine and she fell face-first into the coffee table edge. She cried out, covered the place where she hit her head and made her way over to me. I saw blood. I took her hand away, and I saw this was no 'ordinary' Emily accident. Since I was holding Emily, I told Shan to get a towel or rag or something, and we wiped away at the blood, carefully dabbing at the wound. Gash. It was a gash, and it was ugly.

Tyler asked if he could go to the hospital, and in our mild panic attack, I told him that he needed to go to school with Mimi (my mother, who works at the school). We did not realize how scared HE was until later when we had all settled down. We apologized to him and explained our panicked state. He took it well...

After the initial crying, Emily did not cry again until the doctor was feeding her eyelid with anesthetic (more on that in a moment). Of course, the fact that Emily was NOT screaming her head off only served to make Shan even more nervous. I was too busy concentrating on driving to think that deeply about anything!

At the hospital, Emily began asking all kinds of questions. She asked Shan what Shan would be doing if she had hit her head. And she asked me. We both told her that we would not be handling it as well as she was, and that she was eing a VERY brave little girl! The one question that sticks out in my mind, however, was this one: "When Jessie (her aunt) has her baby, how is the baby going to come out?" Maybe it's just me, but I'm thinking this question is about 10 years too soon! I explained that the doctors would help the baby come out when it was time. Not satisfied, Emily followed up with, "Yeah, but HOW? Where does the baby come out?" I told her that girls' bodies were made so the babies would come out and that the doctors would help Jessie. Yes, I stalled for time. Fortunately, Randy (the ER nurse) came out to save me. :-)

Emily's doctor explained several time what he was going to do, and though Emily looked scared a time or two, she never cried. We put her on the table, laid her back, she laid perfectly still the entire time. As I mentioned before, she did cry a couple times while the doctor gave her injections (I think we counted 11 of them) to numb the site, but that was all. No flailing, no wincing, no screaming. I held her hand and told her to squeeze. She did. Once the doctor was done numbing things, he cleaned the site and got ready to sew. I relaxed. I relaxed a little TOO much.... I felt the world closing in around me, and asked Shan (evidently several times quickly in a row) if she would like to hold Emily's hand for a bit. I also had to go to the restroom (potty breaks can hit at the weirdest times!).

I am usually not skittish or prone to passing out. But, ever since her delivery, anything that involves my little girl just makes me lose it once I relax. From the story as told to me by Shan, I weaved my way to the restroom. After I came out, I was given a cup of ice, a cup of water, and I watched the doctor sew several stitches into Emily's gash (I will post pictures of his handy-work later).

After it was over, Emily walked around for a bit, just to be sure, and we were given the okay to head out. The doctor said he has never seen anyone handle getting stitches better than Emily. Shan and I, being directionally challenged as we are, had no idea where the exit door was. Emily (yes, the 4-year old that just had 5 stitches put in her head) says, "Umm, aren't we supposed to be going THAT way?" and points to the door. The nurses all commented on the fact that SHE had to tell US where the exit was... :-)

We took Emily to Mickey D's for breakfast (I think part of the reason for my light-headedness was the fact I had not eaten breakfast... well, that's MY take anyway...), and she got to pick out a toy at Wal-Mart (she chose a Dora the Explorer adventure van that talks, plays music, and does other things).

When we got her home, Emily ran and played and laughed and sang (at one point, she put "Bad Day" on the CD player, and sang along!). Basically, she was herself with a bandaid on her head. She and Mimi fed the goats, pet and fed Daisy, and then while Shan and Tyler went to Awanas, Em and I stayed home and played Lincoln Logs, Fisher Price Castle, Baseball Card matching game (the rules of which I never did quite fully grasp), among other things. Are we still worried that she hasn't had a screaming fit over this? A little, but then again, once Emily gets upset, she gets over it, and life goes on....

Shan's Dad did threaten to beat the coffee table with a hammer.... We're not sure if he was joking... Guess we'll find out... :-)