Stitch-in-Time

With a four day week for the kids and limited free time for Rick and me on the weekend we had decided that “date night” was Thursday night this week.  Rick returned home around 7:15 after I had fixed the kids their pancake dinner and was cycling everyone through the bathroom and heading them upstairs for story time and bed.  Then we were to head out for our own dinner and some un-interrupted talk time before dropping off the van for some scheduled maintenance work.  So as soon as we had said family prayer Kaitlyn raced out of the room to head for her bed but slipped in her socks and hit her chin on the wood floor… hard!  I ran to pick her up and hesitated to send Rick for a washcloth or two (see post in June for reason why) but I figured he’d be OK as long as he didn’t SEE what was going on.  Then I sent Lindsay for another wash cloth fearing that Rick had already seen too much.  I held pressure on Kaitlyn’s chin as I cleaned up her hands, neck and face.  I was surprised and relieved when the bleeding stopped fairly quickly… or at least quicker than experience told me it would be.  Carefully I lifted the washcloth from her chin to see the wound itself and then I rolled my eyes heavenward and shook my head as I covered it back up.  I sent for some cream and a band aid and told Haley she was in charge and that Dad and I were taking Kaitlyn to the hospital.  It was 8:30 p.m.

Arriving a little after 9 p.m. we registered and were told the wait would be around 1 1/2 hours.  We filled the time with scrap paper and an assortment of colored pens I found in my bag along with TV and a nice long book I’ve been working on for a week now, and talking of course.  Kaitlyn enjoyed counting the colored squares on the floor and naming the characters she saw on the walls from Winnie the Pooh as she waited like Humpty Dumpty, to be put back together again.  All that waiting made me rethink that maybe I was over reacting and we really didn’t need to be there.  But one more peek under the band-aid and I knew there was no choice.  We were in the right place.  After the 90 minute wait they took us to triage and pulled Kaitlyn’s band aid off, put some numbing cream and more bandages on and were told to wait for the cream to take effect… another hour.  Just before 11:30 they put her up on the surgical table under bright lights and she bravely lay down to let the doctor look at her.  She was brave as we velcroed her arms and legs down like a sneaker and she remained very calm and still as I helped her and watched the Doctor put four stitches into her chin.  I did NOT describe to Rick what I saw.  They warned me to sit down if I felt I needed to.  I told them that I was fine, that the right parent was sitting down and that eyeballs are my weakness.  I know my limitations.  Kaitlyn did a great job and was so good that the doctor and nurse said that “the girls won” for that night.  The stitched up boy before her was “like wrestling an alligator” they told us.  When Kaitlyn sat up she had one single tear running down out of the corner of her eye.  When I remarked on her one tear, Kaitlyn responded “I know!  I feeled it and now I can be alive again!” 

The doctor gave Kaitlyn her “squirt gun” as a souvenir to bring home and make her brothers jealous and she got a really cool (and wild looking) band aid put over her stitches.  It was her “favorite band aid ever”. 

Four neat stitches later and after midnight we went through the 24 hour McDonalds drive thru nearby and finally ate our dinner in the car on the way home.  Having ordered a Happy Meal at that hour (Kaitlyn said she was hungry too) the cashier looked at us as wicked parents as she peered into our vehicle at our very tired child strapped into her car seat.  How irresponsible to have a child out at that hour! 

Tucking into bed our exhausted child who’d fallen asleep on the way home we dropped into our own bed after a nearly 20 hour day.

Rick told Kaitlyn that next time she wants to stay up late with Mom and Dad we should schedule a movie and popcorn instead!  Stitches come out next Tuesday.