So in the midst of our whirlwind trip to Indiana for a family reunion (Alann's maternal side), we made a trip to the ER. Yay! What's a road trip without a little blood right?
Anyway, here's what happened. Debbie, Claire, Alex and I were all sharing one bedroom. We had a twin bed, a crib, a pack and play, and a cot. The first night we were there, I pulled the crib mattress out and put it on the floor for Claire to sleep on. I brought one of her sheets and her pillow and made her bed like usual, hoping she would sleep in it. I didn't put Alex in the crib itself because it was set for a younger baby and he would have fallen out. So he was in the pack and play, I was in the twin, Deb was on the cot, and Claire was on the mattress next to the cot. Claire DID NOT SLEEP all that night (Wednesday). At all. She climbed onto the cot with Deb, then she laid on her own bed for a bit, then she climbed into bed with me. She ended up sleeping for about 3 hours in the early morning in my bed. But that was it. So Thursday, I figured she would go right to sleep for a nap, especially since we had been at a children's museum all morning. Our host graciously lowered the crib position for us, so I figured I would put Alex in there and put Claire in the pack and play. Well, it's an older crib and didn't go nearly low enough for me to be comfortable putting him in it. (He's been on the lowest position in our crib since about 6 months. After Claire fell out, I've been a little anxious about it.) So I made up Claire's bed on the floor again. She refused to nap on it. So I brought up a second pack and play and made up her bed in there because she kept trying to get in with Alex. (Sometimes the pack and play feels more secure to her.) I had the hardest time getting them to go to sleep for the nap. Alex had napped a bit in the car and so didn't want to go back to sleep and Claire was up because he was up. So I quieted them and left the room for them to work it out. They were laughing and jabbering for a while. Then Alex started crying again. Then I heard a bump and Claire started screaming and crying. I figured she had bumped her head climbing out. So I go running to the stairs (I was on the main floor) and by the time I get there (not long, it's a tiny house), she was standing at the top trying to come down and crying and yelling for me. So I take her back to the room, ask her what happened, Alex is crying his head off, and I pick her up to put her back in her bed and realize there is blood running down her face. So we go to the bathroom and I yell for Debbie because I don't have any experience with head wounds. We cleaned her up and it was a pretty clean cut, but she scalped herself somewhat. It was definitely a flap of skin. It didn't seem to bother her too much actually. It didn't keep bleeding and she stopped crying pretty quick. But it was quite worrisome to me.
Claire's version of what happened: Alex threw his cup out of his bed and then was sad, so Claire got out to get it for him (because she is nice that way.) I asked her if she had hit the bed frame and she said yes. It was that metal bottom corner piece that sticks out over the wheel on those very basic metal frames that come with beds.
So we ditched the naps idea and loaded up the kids. We headed over to Gigi's (Great Grandma's) who is a nurse. She looked at it and said that we could leave it alone and it would heal on it's own in a few weeks, or go get stitches or staples and it would heal quicker. I'm thinking "yeah, Claire leave it alone. I seriously doubt it!" Plus it was grossing me out. I couldn't really imagine trying to wash her hair or deal with having a big gross scab. So we headed to the ER. Luckily it was close. The wait wasn't too long and the people were very nice. The doctor there told me that she could stitch it, but it would take more time, or she could staple it which would be much quicker but slightly more painful. She also said we could put a topical numbing cream on it, wait 15 minutes, then do the numbing shot and then the staples. We decided to just do the shot and the staples without waiting for the numbing cream. She said it might not help much anyway, because the scalp is a lot thicker than the face (where they typically use it). She checked out Claire's head and pressed all around the cut and said she didn't think there was any skull involved because she wasn't flinching or moving at all when she pressed on it. Then they did the numbing shot, which was the worst part of the whole process. Claire HATED it. I had to hold her hands while the nurse held her head and the doctor did the work. She screamed bloody murder. Before they started, they asked if Grandma should take Alex out. Alex has been super glue to me lately. I cannot leave his sight. I can't even go to the bathroom unattended. So I knew that was a no-go. So Claire starts screaming and Alex comes over and gets upset and starts crying and it seemed like it went on forever.It probably only took a minute or two tops. She did the shot, cleaned the area, then stapled it and was done. Then Claire would not let me go, which made Alex more upset because Grandma had to hold him. Finally I convinced Claire to share and I held both for a minute, then Claire went to Grandma and everything quieted down a lot. We were there for about an hour, so it wasn't really too bad.
We went back to Gigi's house, had dinner, and then Claire and Alex played for a while. Claire didn't seem bothered by it at all. Though she was extremely tired. (She hadn't napped since Monday!) One the way back to where we were staying, Claire fell asleep, then started crying out in her sleep. She woke up finally and kept crying and carried on for about 5 minutes. We gave her some ibuprofen and the kids went to sleep. She refused to sleep in the pack and play, so I let her go to sleep in my bed, then Deb and I moved her when we went to bed.
This was out first trip to the ER with Claire. I've been twice before (in two states!) with Alex. I always figured that she would be the first to go, and in a way she was, since hers was the first injury related visit. Alex was just sick both times- once on the weekend when he was very young and once when we were out of town. First staples I've experienced too- I've never had them.
One other thing- both Gigi and Grandma thought I should have gotten her stitches, because "you can just take them out yourself". Um sure, you can, but I wouldn't. Either way I would take her to the doctor. And with staples I can wash her hair (which was bloody and we were planning on going to the water park the next day) and the doc said it would heal faster and cleaner. And I have had bad experiences with stitches. Sure it was the dog (Tanner) and not a person, but they gross me out. The staples gross me out too, but I know I won't have to deal with them before taking Claire to the doctor. And they are a good reminder not to touch her head, which I realized today I do, A LOT.
So she should be fine. It was more of a cut than anything else.
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