That's gonna leave a mark!

Guess what we did last night? Took our first injury related trip to the ER with one of our kids. Frankly, with as active my kids are, especially Sam, I'm shocked it took this long to happen.

I still don't quite know what happened. The rocking chair rocked all the way back and all the way forward. Sam was on the ground on his knees in front of the rocking chair, I think he tried to use it to brace himself and it gave out. Then Lindsey somehow ended up in a large plastic bowl from IKEA and she was crying too. My instinct was to tend to Lindsey first. Once I realized she was okay, I looked to Sam who was holding his head and BLOOD was EVERYWHERE!!! It splatterd on the carpet, covered his clothing and mine. I couldn't tell where the blood was comming from it was running down his face, pooling in his ear, covering his FAVORITE YELLOW SOCCER BALL SHIRT (I'm still working on the stain but I think it's a casualty to the accident--if anyone see's one somewhere let me know!). But it's a headwound right? They bleed.

I scooped him up and headed to the bathroom, laid him on the counter and began to apply pressure while trying to think of who to call to help me as Kaitlyn was hovering and Lindsey was playing on the floor, which had drops of blood all over it. I had to leave a few times to grab a phone, and phone numbers. Kaitlyn was my fabulous little helper "gophering" for this and that and when she couldn't she'd take over applying pressure. I heard her sweet little voice reassuring Sam. "It's okay Sam, you're big sister's here, everything is going to be alright. I'm here to take care of you, it's okay buddy." Gosh, I love that girl!

We got the bleeding to stop. My neighbor came over to just offer another set of hands while I transfered him to the couch and put on a movie for him. I finally got Stephen and he left work a little early to come home and help me take him to the ER, my parents live close and they swooped down to feed my other 2 dinner and get them to bed.

Off to the ER. I HATE the red tape and forms and waiting. It's the same as any hospital and if I were president I'd change the system. We waited, and Sam played with cars and read books and was fine as can be, until the procedure:

They tucked his arms into a pillowcase then strapped him into a papoose board. (Stephen commented that we should invest in one of those boards, we've never seen Sam be that still!!) That was alarming to him. But what really freaked him out was the large, bald, black nurse that held his head while the stiching was being done. He kept saying, "I just want my mom to hold my head!" Poor little guy. But they pre-numbed the area before the shot of numbing stuff. HE GOT 3 STICHES, some clifford and hot wheels stickers and a daffy duck bandaid. It took a couple of hours but home we came. He'll have a nice shiner but he'll recover, and hopefully since he's young it won't scar. So look out for rocking chairs and large green bowls from IKEA, they can leave a mark!