ER

The most exciting part of our Sunday went mostly undocumented with photos. First, let me tell you that I was sick still--sick enough that I stayed home from church quite possibly for the first time since Anders was born (there may have been one or two other times in there, but I can't remember them; I know it's been at least a year). Anders stayed home to keep me company, as well.

Even with that rest in the morning, I still didn't feel great. After church, Carl (who also was still sick, but didn't get the luxury of staying home) decided he'd play with the boys for awhile, then head off to take a nap. While they were playing, I was sneaking in just a few more minutes of relaxing on the computer. So when I heard Erik start crying, I didn't even really move. I'm not even sure I tuned into it right away. It wasn't until the cries intensified, and I heard Carl talking about ice and holding still that I realized he might actually be hurt.

If you're a parent, have you ever wondered if you'd really know when your child would need stitches? After all, without medical training how do you really know? This was a worry of mine. I worried that my child would get a cut that needed stitches, but I wouldn't think it was bad enough. Or I'd worry that I would think the cut was awful, when in actuality it just needed a band-aid.

Well, I can now tell you that sometimes you just know. As soon as I roused myself from my computer-induced inertia, I looked at Erik's head and knew we were going to the ER. We did decide to stop the bleeding first, then check it, knowing that sometimes cuts look worse because there's a lot of blood. Erik's cut (that occurred when he was running, slipped, and banged his head into a wooden corner) was on his forehead, and while it wasn't flooding us out with blood, there was still a lot.

I kept my shoes on, though, because I was still sure we'd be going to the ER. And sure enough, I think it actually looked worse once the bleeding stopped. So it was off to the ER for me and Erik. Which meant Carl didn't even get to take his nap.

The ER wasn't too crowded, but we still had to wait for awhile, both to see the triage nurse and to see a doctor. I had grabbed a book for me (Bridge of Sighs) and a book for Erik (Don't Know Much about Space, which is quite an ironic title for him...) However, after about an hour and a half, he was done reading and ready to do something else. I worked hard to come up with some thinking games we could do with no paper, and we kept busy for awhile longer.

All along, Erik was on the edge of breaking down, as he really did not want stitches. He was convinced that getting stitches would really hurt, and he wanted to be clear that he did not want to get them. The doctor didn't commit right away, just telling him that he'd have to do something to it. He was holding out for using the glue method, but as it turned out, Erik's cut was too deep and required stitches--not one, but five.

And, as I expected, Erik lost it. He was able to keep it mostly under control, though, with a lot of willpower on his part, and a lot of restraint from me and a nurse. The worst part was the numbing of his forehead; the stitches themselves were pretty easy, and even Erik commented, "It doesn't hurt at all, Mom! I thought it would hurt, but it doesn't!"

Finally home (3 1/2 hours total at the ER), I took a picture of Erik with his bandage. He'd just had a fruit popsicle, so it's also with a messy face.