A First for the Family...

We've been pretty lucky and injury free in our family.  There are the occasional scrapes and cuts and bonks on the head that are all healed quickly with a kiss and a band aid.  Once, Jake had a cut on his forehead that I glued together with super glue, but it wasn't all that big.  I am knocking on wood all over the place as I write this post because I certainly don't want any injuries to be more serious than the ones we've had.  I'm just saying that some families spend a lot of time in the ER.  We spend a lot of time searching for lost children, and calling poison control...to each their own.

Anyway, a few weeks ago, Nate was messing around in the tv room and he tripped and slid into the pole by our front door.  It made a pretty loud noise, so I rushed into the room to see what had happened.  He cried a bit and came to me for comfort.  I ran my hand over his head and felt for a lump...didn't find one and kissed him on his way.  

I didn't hear anything more about it for hours.

I had just gotten Jason to sleep and Nate was out playing with Allie and Lily.  He came in to get a popsicle and I gave him one.  Then, as a side note, he said "my hair hurts right here.  There's something sticky on it and it makes my hair hurt when I try to get it un-stuck".  I took a look at it and found that his hair was clotted and matted with blood.  Yuck!  I started cleaning it up so I could get a closer look and found that he had a little inch and a half spot on his head where it was just split open. (Yes, I totally got out the ruler and measured it because I was on the phone with the nurse trying to decide if I should take him in)  It wasn't bleeding much, so I cleaned it up and took him down to Mike for a second opinion.  I was thinking that we could just leave it alone, or maybe glue it together because it wasn't bleeding and didn't seem to be a problem.  Mike wanted me to take him into the doc, so I called to make an appointment.  I wanted our neighbor who is a nurse to look at it though because I was afraid we'd get to the doctor and they'd tell me that it wasn't deep enough to worry about.  The nurse told me if it was her kid, she'd just save the money and let it heal on its own.  We consulted any of the neighbors who were out and they all agreed that we could just let it heal.  I came home with him and got out the super glue to glue it shut and as I looked at it again, I realized that it had come open as wide as it was long.  Yuck.  I knew I wanted the doctor to take a look at it now that it was so wide, so we went in.  He ended up needing two staples to pull it closed.  The doctor said when they get wide like that, it's best to just staple them up.  Nate was totally brave and only cried for a second when the staples went in.  They didn't have to shave his head or anything and he was all set with two suckers in no time at all.

                                                   

Have I mentioned that Nate has a hard time looking straight at me for a picture?  I get a whole lot that look like this.

Here's the cut...it's not all that bad and the two staples took care of it easy peasy.

He went back in a week later to get the staples out.  He was a little nervous about going in and each night as I'd tuck him into bed, he'd tell me that he didn't mind leaving the staples in until he was a little older.  He said that 5 year olds can go in and get them out, so he'd wait till then.  The day finally came and he had to get brave and "old enough" really quick because it was happening whether he wanted it or not.  Allie came in with him to hold his hand and it was over just like that (snapping fingers).  He got another pair of suckers and we were out the door to the fish aquarium.  Pretty great story for the books!  I've got a tough kid on my hands and I'll be surprised if it's the last scar he gets.