Nolan goes to the Hospital

My friend Carrie blogs about her adventures in Germany and had mentioned she wished everyone else would blog too. But what do I have to blog about? I am a stay at home mom who is currently sitting at her kitchen table watching her son drive a truck across a window sill. That's exciting stuff.
Yesterday was a very exciting day in our household and because we don't have any immediate family nearby I thought starting a small blog about Nolan and our misadventures would make some Grandmas very happy. (some aunts and uncles too!)
We went to a friends first birthday party yesterday and Nolan was having SOOOO much fun! He is suddenly quite the extrovert and does well in room full of cute little girls! I was sitting on the next to a coffee table that was pushed up against the wall. I was a little worried about the large amount of kids in a small space, so I was trying to prevent any mishaps with the coffee table. I was feeding Nolan cantelope and any of you that know my son, know he is OBSESSED with melon. So, I guess,  I wasn't getting the cantelope to his mouth quite fast enough and he bolted for the coffee table were the plate of melon was sitting. He tripped over my legs and smacked his cute little forehead on the edge. It made the most awful noise. Now we have hit our head numerous upon numerous times, we are a toddler for crying out loud. So I start doing the mommy automatic...'Honey, it's going to be fine. It's just a little bump. No big deal.' Until he looks up at me with blood pouring into his eye! (head and face wounds produce SO much blood) 

The one great thing I have to say about this is I have met some amazing women at the JCC this past year and they sprang into action. We quickly realize this is a trip to the hospital, so Stacey calls Chris, Zoe calls the pediatrician, Jamye gets ice. I'm in a bit of shock...seeing your son bleeding massively for the first time is a hard image to process. The pediatrician's office recommends the hospital as well and off we go. Zoe's sister in law, Sara, was in town and she watched Zoe's son Rafi, while Zoe made the 3 hour trip with us to the Immediate Care Clinic. (I say three hour but that is the time in to time out)
Once we were there, Nolan was in good spirits. Toddlers are such amazing little creatures. He was so upset at first and who wouldn't be? He had a half inch gash over his right eye and it was only getting wider and wider. But once we got to the waiting room he was running around charming the pants off of anyone in there. Amazing. Finally we got to the back, saw three nurses before we were put in the suture room. Now I am a sissy when it comes to needles, to this day I don't know how I got an epidural, but it happened. So I knew that watching him get stitches was going to be hard. I already got overwhelmed at the party and had to sit down for a second. Not because of blood, but because it was specifically my son's blood and I was FREAKED OUT!! (and trying my damndest not to show it.) So when it came time to actually suture the wound, I knew it was going to be difficult for me and probably worse for me than for him. They had to contain him first. First, I have to say that my son is a fighter. He gets this from his father, who would argue with God if he welcomed him into heaven. He can find a counter argument in anything. So the time came, when they had to restrain Nolan and he put up quite a fight for a 25 lb person. This was more difficult than the actual stitches...it 2 nurses and me to hold him down and they strapped him to the gurney. Then all I could do was sit there and sing to him. It was over very quickly, thank God. But there they were...5 stitches. 

You would think they would have been smart enough to use dissolvable stitches with a toddler so we wouldn't have to subject him to this again...BUT NO! So we will be going into the get them removed soon at the pediatrician's. He doesn't even realize they are there at this point which is so reassuring.

This was a long post and for that I apologize. It is cathartic though, this blogging. I know it doesn't seem like it would be such a traumatic experience, 'So what?' some of you may say...'Your kid got a few stitches!' And I hear you, I really do, but when it is your child and you see blood pouring over their face, it's an image you'll never truly erase. I am thankful our first trip to the hospital is done and over with. I will be much better equipped to handle small emergencies such as these in the future and let's hope those are few and far between!