Thursday, March 13, 2008

What happens when you wear white before Memorial Day

This morning at daycare, Brenna was crawling along the hard, tile floor as fast as she could in her white velour sweatsuit. And, I think without anyone seeing exactly how it happened, she cracked her little chin into the floor.

Getting a call at work to tell you that an ambulance is on the way for your baby makes your heart drop, but I knew even then that it sounded scarier than it actually was. Fifteen minutes later, I was in the doors of her school with the EMT, Brenna (who wanted to be held by the daycare director during the ordeal, not me, which I'm pretending I'm over because it's not what's important, but I still don't understand because she hardly knows her),the owner and her teachers. Her teachers felt so bad about the accident, I actually felt bad for them!

The cut was much better than I thought it would be. It looked deep and painful, but it was a horizontal line under her chin, and not wide open down the middle, which is what I expected from the phone call.

Everyone made a big fuss, and Brenna enjoyed holding the ice pack on her face. Even though they offered to take us to the hospital, I decided not to take the ambulance, and instead I took her right to her pediatrician for some Dermabond glue, which the EMT thought might be a possible option rather than stitches.

The pediatrician, however, determined that her cut was too deep and the glue would not hold her wound closed, so she told me to take her to the hospital. She said that they also try to stay away from suturing faces in the office, especially little girl's faces!

I had to go back to my office to print out a copy of Brenna's insurance card, which of course I didn't have, headed to a gas station to fill up my car, which, of course was on empty, and then finally, headed to the hospital.

Then the real wait began, which she was a pretty good sport about. She threw one little tantrum because I wouldn't let her play on the dirty waiting room floor, which caused the triage nurses to think she was a one-year-old, and they were surprised when they saw her birthdate and how young she really is.

They gave her a bear made out of Easter egg fabric to play with, which was so nice, but she thought he was as ugly as I did, so she ignored him. When I finally put her down for a few minutes because my high heels were hurting and my stockings were ripping up both of my legs, I had to snap a few, "first trip to the ER pictures," of course!





Finally, two nurses and a nurse practioner came into the room. Brenna waved to them and said hi in her, "Haaa," way, and before long they loved her. They had to wrap her up and pin her arms down, so it quickly went to a love-hate relationship. One nurse held her body down, one held her head, and the nurse practioner stitched her up. Brenna screamed her head off (and I thought vaccines were bad!). Her tears flew, and my heart broke. I quickly scooped her up when it was all over, and she sobbed and quietly calmed on my shoulder. I wanted to sing to her, but the presence of the three other women kept me from doing so.


They explained to me to watch out for lethargy and concussion symptoms, and then four and a half hours after the incident, Brenna was taking the soundest nap of her life in the car....


When she woke up in her crib an hour later, her Daddy was home hugging her, and she was in the best mood. I think she enjoyed telling her Dad about the street credit she earned!

We went to Erin and Rob's to eat grilled chicken, and Maura gave her Boo-Boo Bear, the giant stuffed bear that the amazing nurses at another hospital bought for Maura when she ran into the corner of their kichen wall two years ago. It was so cute listening to Maura tell Brenna she could borrow him, but she needed him back in her room tomorrow.

The rest of the evening, Brenna walked all around Erin and Rob's living room, and showed us how she can now easily stand up from the ground without pulling up on anything. She can just stand up!

After bathtime, I put Neosporin on Brennas stitches, and she didn't even flinch, and then I wiped the boogers out of her nose, and she screamed like I was torturing her. So, I guess that proves that the only one phased by today was me!

2 comments:

SUZANNE said...

Poor Brenna, that is so sad!! She is tough though, I'm glad she is doing well :)

Carolyn S. said...

Your heart must have sunk to the pit of your stomach when you got that telephone call. And what a trooper, Brenna is all smiles in the hospital bed!

It cracks me up that you brought the camera to the ER - your baby book is going to win some kind of baby book contest.

I hope she's feeling better!