STITCHES!!

This is a great story and I know I will want to remember it. On Sunday August 5, 2012 Luke was sick. He had been running a fever for a few days with a bad cold (this was the first fever of his entire life!!) So, Dan and I took turns going to church that day. I went to the first part and he went to the second part. Even though Luke was sick he still wanted to run around and be a crazy toddler. I was folding up a blanket and whenever I do this Luke likes to charge at the blanket like a bull and it is a fun little game that we play. Well, I was shaking the blanket at him and he ran through it but he just kept running full speed and ram straight into the corner of a 3 inch awning over our fireplace. His forehead met the sharp metal corner at full speed. 

I ran over and picked him up and there were instant tears and cries of pain. There was blood running down his face and even blood running into his eyes (gross!). I was alone so I knew I needed to remain calm and remedy the situation. I used the blanket to put pressure on the spot and Luke was so mad. I carried him over to the kitchen table and laid him down and put some napkins over the wound so it would stop bleeding. I just kept saying to him, "it's ok, it's ok, it's ok." I think I was saying that to myself!! 

The wound stopped bleeding profusely after a few seconds and Luke did not want me holding him down. (He doesn't like to be held or comforted when he gets hurt) So, I let him go and I grabbed a band aid out of my diaper bag and put it on his forehead. I tried to get a good look at the gash before putting the band aid on and it didn't look too good. I kind of thought it might need a stitch or two, but I didn't  know.I got the band aid on his head, cleaned up the blood mess, got him a drink and turned on Little Einstiens and we cuddled on the couch until Daddy got home from church about ten minutes later. 

We showed Daddy the gash and we really didn't know what to do. The reason we didn't just hop in the car and go to urgent care is because we have Kaiser insurance (which I LOVE) but we have to drive at least 25-30 minutes to get to the nearest urgent care. I called the advice nurse and she wasn't that helpful. She did give me some criteria for wounds needing stitches and it sounded like we met the criteria. She also informed me that we would have to drive to the Interstate facility because it is the only urgent care open on Sunday evenings!! That is about a 30-40 minute drive!!! 

We finally decided to err on the side of caution and make the drive to Interstate. We fed Luke some dinner really quick, grabbed some snacks and hopped in the car. We actually made really good time and there was NO traffic since it was a Sunday evening. We checked in and only waited 5 minutes before being called back. 

Forgive the bad phone pictures, but I knew we had to document this little adventure. Mommy and Lukey in the treatment room. 

Luke was such a tropper. Keep in mind that he still had a low grade fever, was getting over a cold, he was teething and had a huge cut on his head!! The PA came and looked at the cut and said that yes, it would probably need one stitch. They put some numbing agent on a cotton ball and taped it to his head for 15 minutes. He kept going over to the door and wanted to open it and leave! Poor little guy! 

Here he is with the numbing stuff on his head. 

What a cutie!! Of course this is the one day in his life that I don't do his hair! He looks a little silly!

After about 15 minutes the PA and nurse came back and were ready to stitch. They don't do dissolve stitches or staples on the face because they will scar more easily. So, he had regular old stitches. They swaddled him up in a sheet so he couldn't get his hands out. That was when he started to get mad! I held his chest, daddy held his legs and the nurse held his head. He was SO mad!! He was screaming like I have never hear him scream before. I thought he was going to pass out. I just kept telling him it was going to be ok and Mommy was here and Mommy loves you. I did feel so bad for him and almost teared up once, but I knew this had to be and the PA was really fast and it was only a couple of minutes we had to hold him for. When she was almost done Daddy said to him, "almost all done Lukey". Then Luke started yelling, "ALL DONE, ALL DONE, ALL DONE". That was really, really sad :(

Finally we were all done and we got to pick him up! He gave that PA the biggest crusty in the world. He didn't want anything to do with her. He was still pretty mad, but calmed down quickly and luckily we were out of there pretty quick. 

This is after the stitches. 

He quickly fell asleep on the way home. The whole thing (including driving) only took about 2 hours so that was definitely a success! I thought we would have to wait forever at the urgent care, but it was all really quick and then we had to wait 6 days and get the stitches out. They bothered him the first two days, but after that I think he got used to it. He woke up a few times in the night the first two days, but nothing after. I'm really glad it wasn't worse! The evil pokey edges on the fireplace are now covered in foam corner protectors!! No more holes in the head around here!! 

Here he is the next morning. You can get a pretty good look at his two precious stitches!! He has healed up very nicely, but is definitely going to have a triangle shaped scar on his head. Too bad it isn't a lightning scar....:)