Trauma...Life in the ER

Well, an adventurous day it's been...after Noah's first week of preschool...which he loved, we were headed home together leaving the building, Jacob in my arms, and Noah skipping, jumping, happily flouncing back to our car, telling me all the joys of preschool. I figured he saw the light post directly in his path 20 feet ahead...18...15...12...5...2...NOAH! He ran straight into a metal, square light post and started screaming. I ran over, set/threw Jacob down, and put my hand up on Noah's head. When I moved it...I saw the blood that was running down my arm...yeah. I asked a Dad (a complete stranger) to watch Jacob (and I realized later I left my purse on the street) and ran with Noah back inside the building. I put Noah's sweatshirt on his head to apply pressure and control/soak up the massive amounts of blood that I did not want to get on my semi-new sweater (I know, I know, but that thought actually did cross my mind at some point)

The teachers kindly welcomed us back into the building with the, "Oh, did you forget somethi...OH MY GOODNESS!" and called 9-1-1. Thinking in my head, I knew that head wounds bleed a lot, and it might not be necessary, so removed the sweatshirt, only to unveil a huge split...I literally thought I could have stuck a piece of toast in the open slot on my child's head. Not feeling so good as a mother, I resolved to sitting on the floor, holding my screaming child...realizing I left my other child on the sidewalk with a stranger, hoping my purse was out there somewhere...

The ambulance came, they looked at him, decided he was going to be fine (phew, if they say that, then it really must be ok). Jacob was brought in and decided to poop, so I had a child with a hole in his head, and one rotting out the whole room. Changed the poop while Noah held the class snake (gross), and toured the ambulance, got in the car, and drove to meet Andrew at the ER. Praise the Lord for such amazing and trained teachers who calmly took care of my child, and as a fellow trained First Aid Certified teacher, I must admit they knew just what to do and were so helpful, and followed protocol perfectly. We are still thinking of something special to thank them.

So, five hours later, we were finally seen in the emergency room, my son's head still looked as though it had brain chunks (or just fatty tissue) pouring out of it. Noah pleaded for "blue" aka glue instead of the multiple stitches that would have been needed. The doctor agreed with Noah's professional opinion, as he didn't want to sedate and stitch a 3 year old and traumatize him (for the 2nd time) with stitches. As soon as they glued it back together, it actually didn't seem that bad at all...as long as I can't toast any bread in my child's forehead, I think we'll all be ok.

So, in the end, Noah still had a great day at preschool, my purse and son were both safely returned, the house didn't get cleaned on my day off this week, and I am so thankful for such a happy, healthy, beautiful family, because you never know when something could happen that could change your life.