I managed to go 8 years with no ER visits or stitches for my kids. Then this summer Alex needed stitches and tonight Kaitlyn needed staples. She has swim lessons immediately before the boys have theirs. When she’s done we normally get her dressed and then watch the boys finish their lessons. Tonight I was hot and grumpy in the pool area and she was restless. She was climbing all over me and the bench where I was sitting. She’s my monkey so I never thought twice about it. Tonight she fell and immediately behind the bench was a ledge. I knew she started crying and was crying harder than normal but I still just assumed she had fallen and maybe had a bump. Then I pulled her away from me to check her mouth and realized my arm had blood on it. It took me a minute to find the source and then I saw the large gash in the back of her head. I had a sinking feeling that even if it wasn’t deep, it was wide enough to need a doctor.
The Y staff was amazing. One of the ladies took the swim bag and the boys to get them dressed. (They offered to keep the boys till Wade could come get them.) I consulted with a lady who had quite a bit of first aid and we agreed she most likely needed stitches. Thankfully the lady knew where to send me and it was less than .5 miles down the road. Knowing it was so close and Wade was on the way, I decided to take the boys with me. Amazingly at this point, Kaitlyn was no longer crying and quite excited about the bomb pop she was given.
We got to the ready-care and they wanted to check her immediately because of her age. I think they feared if it was not something they could handle that I would have to sit in the waiting room a while before being sent away. Once they had us in a room they quickly decided they could do it and would take care of her then. The doctor recommended about four staples. He also said he wasn’t going to numb the area because the shot would hurt as much as just putting in the staples. They did have me trim her hair around the wound (hello second unwanted haircut).
Kaitlyn was a rockstar. She didn’t moan or whimper until the third staple. Then she let me hold her still for the last one. She even got excited when the man showed her the large band-aids he was going to put on her head (which were just for fun – they did nothing with all her hair).
On a side note – I almost grabbed my “real” camera as I was leaving the house. I talked myself out of it because I didn’t need more swim pictures and it has gotten heavy to carry around. You know when we were finished with the procedure I was kicking myself for leaving it at home.