No, it was Claire who required our mad dash to the ER last night. And the accident didn't happen in her dash to keep up with any of Big Sister's antics. In true PK (Preacher's Kid) fashion, the accident happened at church. . .
Matt was conducting a wedding rehearsal for a lovely couple in our church and I was taking photos as the bride's "official un-official photographer" of the wedding festivities. Kate and Claire were playing around the sanctuary, sometimes standing up with Matt on the chancel and sometimes weaving in and around the pews where I was sitting.
I took this adorable pic of Claire looking at a songbook, which might end up on MinistryMatters.com, because it's hard to find "kids in worship" stock photos :0)
So Matt was instructing the wedding party on all their stuff, and then BAM! The kids were running down the aisle to the pew where I was sitting, Kate turned the corner and hopped up on the pew with me, and Claire was right behind her, but tripped and fell smack into the corner of the pew leg. I heard someone exclaim how directly she'd hit that edge, and when she stood up, she had a big gash in her forehead, and blood smearing out of it and under her nose. (If you're squeamish, now's the time to leave.)
From the moment I picked her up, I could tell it needed stitches. The one-inch gash was gaping a quarter-inch wide. Claire was crying at that point, but stopped as soon as I got her over to a sink and wiped some of the blood and was in "go" mode. I scrambled to grab our stuff and someone handed me a maxi pad to get the blood, and someone else got some ice, and we ran out the door, leaving Matt behind. (I figured he couldn't finish up the rehearsal quick enough, and someone said they would bring him over to us.) Once we were in the car, someone alerted me that Matt was coming, so we waited a minute and he hopped in the car too and off we went to the ER.
I was going to head to Vanderbilt Children's, figuring they could handle kids best, but Matt convinced me the closest hospital, Southern Hills, would be just fine and much less crowded, so we could be seen faster. Indeed, we didn't wait too long (though any wait when you've got a bleeding child makes you impatient!)
Claire was in good spirits, fussing only when I had to put her down for a second so they could get her height and weight, and then she was fine again. In fact, the wait once we got to our room was frustrating mainly because the kids were being their busy, curious, rowdy selves, and I was afraid of Claire injuring herself worse or getting germs in the wound.
The gap was too wide to use glue (what I was hoping for, since I figured it would reduce scarring) so they used dissolving stitches that should be gone within 3-5 days. The nurses assured me that baby skin, especially on the face, regenerates quickly, so the skin would probably grow back together in 48 hours, and she would be fine.
"Ha ha, church pew! You won't keep me down!"
I'm actually really glad it happened in church, since no one will tell us not to take her back there, like they might a playground or something! (Though I wouldn't put it past Granna and Opa to come over to church and sand down the edges of all the pews! :0)
Happy 19-month birthday, Claire! The traditional gift is stitches.
2 comments:
Wow... how scary! I hope I react that quickly and calmly if one of my kiddos ever needs stitches (and like you,
I'm shocked we haven't had them yet). But even she makes that gash look cute. :)
Poor thing! We always thought my cousin's youngest daughter would be the first one to break a bone, but her older sister was the first when she fell off the trampoline. When I got the text she told me it was the first broken bone, but it wasn't the niece I would assume it would be!
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