Never A Dull Moment

Well, we've survived another family first. I guess I should say I survived, since it wasn't really all that big a deal for the other boys. Except Kayden. It was a big deal for him...for at least five minutes or so.

Kayden logged his first visit to the ER on Tuesday. We were at my in-laws' house. I had Callan in the Baby Bjorn carrier; he has absolutely been living in that thing lately. Anyway, we were in the guest bedroom making the bed, and the big boys were in the family room watching "Word World." They were totally zoned into the cartoon (can't blame them, it's pretty fabulous...), so the fall and ensuing screaming completely took me by surprise.

Never a dull moment.

As best I could tell, Kayden had simply lost his footing and fallen on the wooden floor, really whacking his head. He had a nasty gash on his brow bone and was bleeding everywhere.

Can I just take a minute to state that head wounds are absolutely ridiculous? This was poor Kayden's second this week (the first inflicted by his brother) and both bled like crazy. Not good for Momma's nerves, by the way. I was very likely more of a mess (both physically and emotionally) than Kayden. The gash was only about an inch long, it was just pretty deep. But to my credit, just take a minute to visualize with me:

I hear the fall and the screaming, and come rushing in to find Kayden hysterical and both hands covered in blood. I then begin trying desperately to get him to the kitchen, calm him, mop up the blood all over his face, and get an ice pack on his head (which both of the big boys hate with a passion).  Simultaneously, I'm trying to negotiate all of this with a baby strapped to my front, dangling into the bloody mess, and trying to placate Cameron, who is worried about his brother and generally just wanting a piece of the action. Add to that the fact that I'm also trying to dial Kyler on my (now bloody) cell phone and (naturally) keep getting his voice mail, and the whole situation is just maddening!

Never a dull moment.

So, eventually I get in touch with Kyler, get Kayden calmed and cleaned and pile everyone into my lap in a recliner in front of a cartoon. He let me hold an ice pack on his head until Daddy got there. We debated using a few steri strips to fix it up ourselves, (as my parents' neighbor did with Cameron's chin when we were there in June) but decided we'd rather go with something Kayden's curious fingers couldn't pull off. Kyler took him to the ER. We didn't even have to play rock, paper, scissors for that job. I didn't want to be the one to have to sit on Kayden if it was going to be stitches. Thank the Lord Kyler has a job with a semi-flexible schedule and could come over right away. Thank goodness we were at his parents' house, only ten minutes from church. Thank goodness I didn't have to take Kayden to the hospital on my own! Can't you just see me trying to negotiate the ER with three kids under 3-1/2?! (And one of them a nursing infant? And the oldest, most docile of the three the one with the head wound?!) Ha! There's a "Not Me!" Monday blog post for sure! :/

Very cool thing...Kyler was walking into the ER and saw a doctor we know from church, who led him right in and fixed Kayden up himself. What a blessing! I am so appreciative. Another bonus: they had the surgical glue compound and were fine with using that instead of stitches. According to Daddy, Kayden threw the biggest fit when they were trying to put on his hospital bracelet. Dad laid down on the hospital bed and held him tight, and he was all done shortly thereafter.

Never a dull moment.

Believe it or not (it took me awhile, too), these pics are after the ER visit, and it actually does look quite a bit better than it did going in. Poor little man still has quite a shiner on that eye, but we're working on getting the swelling to go down so it can heal up well. I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty darn upset that it looked like this after he was "all fixed up." But actually, I can already see some improvement as it heals together from the inside. Hopefully, the scarring will be minimal.

What a big, brave boy!

Now, if we can keep him (and the others!) out of that ER for at least another few months (and save the big accidents--like Kyler's "flying" through his grandparents' glass porch door--for when Daddy's around), I'll be a happy (well, maybe just a less stressed and overprotective) Mommy! Oh, the excitement of raising boys!

Never a dull moment.