We had a very emotionally draining week this last week. Last night ended the week with me just wanting to cry myself to sleep because I was drained!
On Wednesday afternoon, I was getting dinner on the table. As I was putting the chicken on the table, I heard a loud crash and then crying.
I went running into the breakfast nook. I saw my 2-year-old crying and lots of blood. I see the giant glass jar that has candy in it, that is kept on top of the cabinet, on the floor. THANKFULLY the glass did NOT shatter! His head broke the fall. What if that glass had broken on his head?!?! Seriously, I freak out just thinking about it….
Now, he wasn’t actually getting candy. He was getting into the cabinet to get his sunglasses. Somehow the glass container was not put up on top properly. I am guessing when he opened the door, it somehow knocked it off. Now that glass jar has been up there for YEARS with no issues at all. It doesn’t matter really. It fell. It hurt him. Not sure how it happened.
I see him and scream to my husband, who also was on the way out of his office, that we need to get to the hospital. He was going to need stitches. I grab a towel for his head, hand him to his dad to take to the car. I then take the baby from the swing, where he was sleeping, grab my purse and head out the door. I tell my daughter to feed her brothers and tell them I will text them. My poor 5-year-old was completely freaked out.
The gash was DEEP – like you can see bone deep.
We live about 10 minutes from the hospital. I drop my husband and son off at the ER entrance and then I parked and got the baby out.
I enter the ER and they are putting gauze on the wound and then winding it around his head to help stop the bleeding. It surprisingly wasn’t bleeding too badly. It was a fairly clean cut.
They then sent us to the waiting room. Mind you, there was really NO one else in the waiting room. However, we were in there almost an HOUR. I was starting to freak out about having the baby in such a germ-filled environment – people are too interested in a tiny baby and ER’s attract “odd” people. So I decided to take him home and leave him with my daughter and mother-in-law. My Father in law was taking out 8 year old to his scout meeting for us.
Of course, after I got about a mile away, they FINALLY got into a room. I went home, fed the baby, and then left him with his sister. I didn’t think it would be long, as my husband said they put the numbing stuff in already.
I get back to the hospital and they are chilling out watching tv. I take over cuddling him and we wait. and wait. and wait. After an hour, they FINALLY come back and decide to do a second round of numbing stuff. We wait longer. Nothing. At this point, I have to get back to feed the baby and put the kids to bed for school the next day. So I have my father in law pick me up so I can leave the van with my husband to come home.
He CRIED and CRIED that I had to leave again. It freaking broke my heart. He was doing perfectly up until then. He wanted to go home and he wanted to be with mommy. I was pretty much in tears as he cried while I left.
My husband said he threw himself on the floor after I left and really was crying. GUESS WHAT?!?! Because he was throwing a fit, they FINALLY decided to come to stitch him up! Seriously?!?! They were not that busy. If you are quiet do they just forget about you?!?! I hate going to the ER. They always suck.
By the time I get home, my husband said they were almost done stititching him up. Only 3.5 HOURS after we first get there. GRUMBLE. 2 year old bleeding from his head. You think you’d stitch them up and get them out of there. I was in tears feeding the baby at home because I was not at the hospital with him.
My husband said he did GREAT. No crying or moving while they stitched him up. They wrapped him up like a burrito. My husband at his feet, a nurse holding near his arms and a spare nurse just in case. They didn’t need the spare nurse, thankfully. He was a champ!
Once they got the discharge papers, they were out of there. They got a Happy Meal and ice cream on the way home. A BIG treat for him (they haven’t had Happy Meals in a LONG time. His brothers were a bit jealous about that!). He hadn’t had dinner (neither had my husband or I), so he was hungry.
We let him sleep in our bed that night. He is still sleeping on the couch in our room. He usually sleeps with his brothers, but they MOVE so much while they sleep, I am afraid to let him sleep with them for a while.
He had 3 stitches inside, 4 middle layer, and 5 up on top! It was deep and hit a muscle, so they wanted to be sure he’d be able to wink, etc.
He is our FIRST kid with stitches. Thankfully! 5th kid and being the first at something! blah.
Then on Friday, Kid #6 had his first Ultrasound for his Pelvic Kidney. Thankfully, that only took like 15 minutes. Nice change of pace. He was happy and well-behaved the whole time. Just smiled at everyone. He did manage to wiggle his diaper off (which they loosened) in the blanket and pee, but no big deal really.
We don’t have any results. I wasn’t really expecting any soon. I assume if all is well, we may not really hear much. So no news is good news in my opinion.
The 2-year-old was doing really well with everything… until last night.
He was taking a bath with his brothers. The 5-year-old somehow stood up and scraped his back on the water faucet. When I heard him crying I wanted to cry, especially when my husband mentioned how much it looked like it hurt. I got up, assessed the situation, got some Neosporin with pain reliever, placed it on the scrape and taped some gauze over the wound. The 5-year-old went back to normal fairly fast.
The 2-year-old was obviously showing some delayed trauma. I believe his brother getting hurt triggered it. We could NOT get him out of the tub. He wouldn’t get out. He wouldn’t talk to us. He didn’t want us in the room. We couldn’t leave him in the tub by himself, especially since I didn’t want him getting his wound wet (it can be washed, just not soaked in water). We tried for an hour to figure out how to get him out of the tub. Bribery didn’t work. Watching his favorite shows or toys didn’t work. I tried getting in the tub with him. He was acting strange and odd. Mind you, he is not very verbal. He doesn’t talk much and it can be frustrating to communicate. Finally, I gave my husband the towel, and I grabbed him out of the tub and handed him to my husband.
He cried, screamed, and thrashed. I ended up just holding him tight while he screamed in my ear and thrashed in my arms. Once he calmed down a bit, he ran to his sister’s room, talked to her for a minute, and then decided he would go to the bathroom. Once he was done on the toilet and washed his hands (he didn’t do anything on the toilet – he doesn’t quite make that connection. He just likes the idea of it), he decided he would get his diaper on and put on Pj’s.
He climbed into bed with us, cuddled, and went to sleep.
I then wanted to cry myself to sleep. That was scary. He was acting so strange, it frightened me. The only thing I can pin it on was some delayed trauma being brought on by seeing his brother hurt.
This morning, he keeps waking up, Yelling, “No! No!” and going back to sleep.
Poor kid has been through alot this week!
Poor parents have been through an emotional roller coaster. I was just simply drained last night.
In one week, we have bought 5 pairs of eyeglasses, took the 5-year-old to the doctor for breathing issues and he now has an expensive inhaler, the ER trip, and the Ultrasound. It was an EXPENSIVE week too!
However, I know that we are so richly blessed. We have our beautiful children. We have employment. We have insurance (we’ve probably met the deductible this week!). We can provide well for ourselves. We are a family and we are together. Really, we are greatly blessed with all that we have.
But I really need a nap now!
