Saturday, July 12, 2008

NINE STITCHES LATER...

WARNING: If you're squeamish about blood or open cuts....
skip this post or have someone else read it to you!!!


While Eric was in Costa Rica for 9 days last month (singing with their National Orchestra), we here at home had an exciting time. No, exciting really isn't the word for it.

For one thing, I discovered that it's much easier to be away from him if I'm somewhere else too. I am so grateful that last summer the girls and I were with my mom, dad, and sister. Last summer we were apart for 8 weeks but that somehow felt like nothing to the 9 days he was gone this summer. He's been back for sometime now and we're all doing well and glad to be under one roof again.

But as if me on my own with the girls wasn't enough excitement, Esther fell through our glass coffee table!

It was pretty amazing. I was in the other room and heard Heidi screaming semi-frantically so I ran to investigate. Heidi was holding her own foot and screaming (but uncut), whereas Esther was standing in the remains of the coffee table, not holding her foot, and not screaming.

I snatched her out of the mess and then realized she was bleeding. I wrapped my hand around the cut and went to the bathroom to clean it off. Still, no crying. And as she was sitting on the bathroom counter playing with her toothbrush, still, no crying.

And since she was being so mellow and my cell phone was right next to me on the counter (having just called a friend to come watch the other girls), I snapped a picture....


Definitely stitches material, no?

And then because she still wasn't crying and we had taken care of things for the moment, I sat her in her booster chair so she could eat dinner. I had just finished making dinner when she fell.

My wonderful friend came over to watch the girls and then Esther and I left to go to Urgent Care. We were there for 3 hours and she did SO well. When she wasn't being seen by a nurse or doctor, we played. Little games like, "climb up the exam table, slide down the exam table", or "use mommy's keys to open mommy's fist, close mommy's fist and do it all over again", along with the usual toys I keep in the diaper bag. I'm sure she thought it was great having so much one-on-one time with Momma.

Esther whimpered, only whimpered, a little bit when the PA stitched her up. She said, "Hurts, hurts." And then, "All done", when she had decided she'd had enough. That being the only complaint from her, I was very glad I had agreed to the 45-minute numbing gel before the actual anesthetic shots.

We were very fortunate to have our "seamstress" be a PA who had previously worked for a plastic surgeon. Talk about some straight stitches. She did a fantastic job and even our pediatrician was impressed.


Of all my babies, Esther has spent more time in the hospital and urgent care than her sisters. There's something a little sad about a two-year old who says "Medicine" perfectly. :(

We had already made a trip to the ER earlier in June when she was having a hard time breathing. The two of us were gone from 4pm to 12am. Wow. They even gave her an IV.


And after only a few hours in the ER, this is what she looked like.



I got some good cuddle-time out of it.
I wish I had brought my book though... :)

In the end, our pediatrician decided she has asthma. We'll just have to wait and see if she grows out of it. For now, she's become very good friends with her "mask" she holds up to her face for a breathing treatment each night. (We're only doing the treatments for 4-6 weeks to ensure no relapse and then we'll just keep emergency meds on hand.) I am so grateful for modern medicine!

Oh, and one more thing about her stitches -- She is always happy to tell us about the whole incident. If we haven't mentioned it for awhile, she likes to point at her foot, say "band-aid, ankle, table broken". And if we use any of those words in normal conversation, she interrupts to tell us the story again. Such a cutie.

Her stitches have been out for over a week now and she's doing great.
What a trooper.

7 Comments:

  1. JAMIE said...
    Wow, I can't believe she was so calm!!
    Jean said...
    Aww, poor thing! She is SERIOUSLY the trooper!! I can't believe she didn't cry that whole time. She's a tough one... way to go, Esther!! And way to go, Abby, for managing the crisis!!
    Wendi said...
    Wow, that was quite the cut! That is incredible that she was so calm about the whole thing!! Seriously... kudos to you for taking care of everything calmly in a stressful situation!
    Erika said...
    Yikes!! That would have been SOOOO scary. But it's awesome that Esther was so good, that would TOTALLY not have been MY daughter! I'm surprised you have the presence of mind to snap a picture, but I guess it helped that she wasn't crying! Wow.
    Trishelle said...
    Wow! What an amazing kid...and an amazing momma! Way to keep your whits about you!
    Anna said...
    Poor girl, that is a pretty bad looking cut. I am glad she handled the situation so well,(for both your sakes) and that she is improving so quickly.
    Heather said...
    Wow, that's quite the ordeal! So glad she's okay and that it wasn't worse.

    And doesn't it seem like these things always seem to happen when husbands are out of town?

    Sounds like you both handled it quite well.

    Oh and I tagged you if you want to play.

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