Urgent Care

We recently had our first trip to the Urgent Care center. A few Sundays ago, the kids were playing after dinner. They usually have lots of energy after dinner, the last little burst of energy before bed I suppose. I was actually video taping them because of all the fun they were having. Lots of laughter, lots of cheerful voices I like to capture. I had the camera on Luke when we heard a bang. Sarah had run and jumped into Luke's chair and I guess she had so much momentum that her head went back and hit the corner of the wall. 

She landed at a angle and hit the corner of the wall. It still makes me cringe!

I immediately picked her up and wasn't sure at the time if she had hit the corner or not. Jim quickly said he saw her hit it so I sat down with her while he looked at the back of her head. It didn't take long for him to move her hair and see all the blood. When I looked down all I could see was her head split open. I knew immediately she would need staples. While trying not to panic, trying to comfort her, trying to figure out where to take her, trying to calm the boys down was no easy task. Jacob and Luke were very concerned at this point. Seeing blood is always scary to kids...and mommy and daddy!

At this point it's 7:30 on a Sunday night. Our kids go to bed at 7:30 and Jacob was going back to school the next day after being on Christmas break for two weeks. So we decided it was best for Jim to stay back with the boys, calm them down and get them to bed while I took Sarah in. We were able to put some old towels behind her head and on her car seat to control the bleeding in the car. Assuming she would keep her head back and apply the pressure that was needed. She had actually stopped crying when she saw the boys crying. She seemed to be more concerned at that point that "aw, boys sad". Sweetness. I turned the movie on in the car so she would put her head back and watch it. And stay awake. I was nervous about the trauma to her head and didn't want her falling asleep. 

After debating on where to go, we decided I should go to the Acute Care for Kids in Frisco. We had been there before and they were great. And I really preferred to go to a pediatric clinic instead of the general ER anyway.  After calling to confirm they were still open and staples were something they could do, we made our way there. They told me they could help me as long as I was there before 8:00. I signed in at 7:58! I was talking to Sarah most of the way to make sure she was doing ok. As we got closer I was telling her that the doctor was going to look at her boo-boo and make sure she her head was ok. She said several times, "me, okay", "me, okay". I think she was trying to tell me to turn the car around and go home. :-)

*note- these next few pictures are bloody- just warning you!*

The doctor and nurse tried to clean it up a bit, which she didn't like. I asked the doctor if they could numb it and thankfully she said yes. Honestly the hardest part was having to lay her on the table on her tummy. She wanted no part of that as you can imagine. I held her arms down and the nurse held her head still while the doctor did her thing. At this point I think Sarah was so tired from all the crying that she never fought us while she was laying there. She was crying but still. She ended up getting four staples and her cut was about 3/4" long.

Once I picked up her up she stopped crying and seemed fine. She really is a strong little one! We were out of there by 8:30 and on our way home!

She was happy with her sucker she got from the doctor's office. 

When we got home, she was acting like her normal self. She amazes me. At one point I told her, "You are a tough cookie." She laughed and said, "Me no cookie." We wanted to keep her up for a bit just to make sure we didn't see any signs of a concussion.  

While I was gone with Sarah, Jim had the job of calming the boys down. They were worried and scared. He reassured them she would be fine and they asked if they could read their book, "Franklin Goes to the Hospital." And for the first time since they got their bunk beds last fall, they wanted to sleep together. Jacob's bed is a full size on the bottom so they slept well together.

These boys love their baby sister!

We couldn't get it wet, especially for the first 48 hours. But Tuesday night I couldn't stand the mess that was still there so I was able to clean it up a bit.


As the week went on, it started looking better...


and better.

She had the staples in for seven days and I took her back the following Sunday to get them removed. The first one took some tugging but the nurse got it out. The second and third one came right out. The fourth one didn't want to come out. The nurse tugged and tugged but couldn't get it. She put a gauze on it to control the bleeding and goes and gets the doctor. Luckily I was able to hold Sarah and she was crying but still. The doctor comes in and he tries and tries. Lots of tugging and pulling. Apparently the ends of the staple were bent in different directions?? Something like that. He finally got it and we were done! The skin was actually open again where the fourth staple was. But he reassured me the staples had done their job and it was just open superficially and would close up on it's own. 

The rest of the scab fell off  later in the week but the part where the fourth staple was, the scab is still there.

As crazy as this situation was, I'm so thankful Sarah handled it as well as she did. She never messed with it or tried to pick at the staples. She didn't fight the doctors and nurses. She let me clean it when I needed to. She let me look at it and check it several times a day and she let me take pictures when I wanted to. She really is one tough little girl. Kids really are so resilient and bounce back so quickly. And for that I am incredibly thankful!