OUCH!

I realize that this will make my posts "out of order" because I am so far behind in my posts. However, this was the easiest way to share my experience this morning. (I'll probably re-post later when I get back in chronological order).

So.... Sam is at this phase in life where he knows what he wants but can't communicate it. All those of us with kids have been there. He had one of those moments this morning and proceeded to go into one of those "terrible two" tantrums because of it. He headed from the kitchen into the living room on a mission of misery (as far as he was concerned). I was in the kitchen so I have no idea what happened next, but the next thing I know he was screaming on his stomach on the floor and all I can see is his hand covered in blood.

Sam seems to get nosebleeds fairly easy when bumping his nose, so I thought it was another nosebleed. So, I went over to pick him up and when I turned him around I realized it was definately NOT his nose. His forehead was covered in blood and his head and hands were dripping everywhere (especially all over his pants). So, I rushed him into the kitchen to start cleaning up and am afraid to look at what is underneath. I finally, get up the nerve and take a peek and notice it is not a very large cut at all. It was probably about the size of a pencil eraser but it was shaped like an upside down 'v'. The more I cleaned it up the more I realized that it might not lay very well to heal on it's own, and the longer I waited the deeper it looked. So now I need to make that dreaded decision - does this need stitches or am I just "throwing the panic button".

Not wanting to make a wrong decision, I called ahead and headed with Gabrielle, Allison and Sam to my office. (One of the perks of working in a dermatologists office right?). All the way there, I am praying that he doesn't need stitches, but at the same time hoping that they don't think I'm foolish for thinking that he might.

The minute I took the band-aid off for the nurse, she knew instantly that he needed stitches. So the false alarm aspect of the trip is now gone, but now I have to deal with the process of having my 20 month old get stitches.

He handled the numbing procedure quite well, the nurses were actually quite impressed. He fought the fact that he needed to lay down, but really only grunted during the injection process and I think they gave him 4 or 5 shots. The suturing process was a whole other story. They had to put a drape over his face which he didn't like at all. My friend Paulita, had to hold his head in place while I held his arms. I practically had to lay across him body to hold him still. He fought, and cried and screamed almost the whole time. Then, to top it off, the edges were jagged and wouldn't make a good scar - so they had to surgically modify the cut to make the edges more even and get a better looking result. They took a 'v' shaped cut and turned into a longer cut, shaped like a crescent moon.

So...when all was said and done he had 6 stitches on his forehead and nice bandage as a battle scar. The minute he was able to sit up, he settled right down without even a whimper. He got 2 suckers as a reward, as well as a "Chicken Little" balloon (as the girls have been calling it), made by dear sweet Paulita by blowing up a surgical glove like a balloon and drawing a face on it.

I guess we can be grateful that we have been parents for 6 1/2 years and this is the first instance of stitches in any of the kids.