Thursday, July 3, 2008

Bed Jumping

Man, what a night. So, at bedtime Liel was jumping on her bed and fell. She cracked her nose on the headboard of her bed (lovely heavy cherry wood- it was my bed and it was my mom's) and split the bridge of her nose clean open. Except that it wasn't clean at all- it was very, very bloodly. Blood pouring all over her face, on her blankets, on Robert. Once we got a glimpse of the wound I pulled some clothes on her and ran her to the ER, cradled in my arms with a cloth diaper over the cut trying to staunch the blood. Thankfully we live 1/2 a block from the hospital! The desk guy at the ER rushed us right into the pediatric ER and a doctor had her cleaned up (all the dried blood and such. Well, not all...her hair is awful, gonna have to wash it in the morning!) and put a bandage with anesthetic on her. Then he suggested we have the pediatric plastic surgeon come in to stitch her up, since its right in the middle of her face. I agreed, and the plastic surgeon (who was at home) was called in. He got there pretty quickly, though waiting for him wasn't bad...Liel wasn't crying anymore and we were snuggling and talking about the doctor coming to help the cut on her nose.

The helping part was rough. They have this baby straight jacket thing they put her in so he could clean, cauterize, and stitch her up. Once the poking started (the injection of the local anesthetic) Liel started crying. And screaming. And begging me to pick her up so we could go home, and wailing, "You're hurting me!". That went one, more or less uninterrupted for about 20 minutes. The hole in her head wouldn't stop bleeding! He finally got it to slow up enough that he could put the stitches in. There are 6 or 8 of them. Once the poking was done and I could hold her Liel calmed right down and was positively cheerful when the nurse brought her stickers and a cookie (though she did inform the nurse that the straight jacket thing was "too tight").

She's home, sleeping. We'll go in on Tuesday to have the stitches out. I'm a little worried and sad for her about having a scar in the middle of her face (right between her eyes!) but I'm also incredibly grateful that that's the worst I have to worry about with regard to this particular incident. She's an amazing kid, and I love her so much!

9 comments:

Melissa said...

Aw man! I'm so sorry- what a terrible heart breaking story!

I hope that she heals up nicely and quickly!

((hugs)) to Liel!

jfk said...

sweet baby liel! hugs and kisses and perfect healing for liel (those plastic surgeons know how to wield a stitch) wishes coming your way!

xx.n

skyeball said...

Poor little one. I'm glad to hear she's all right after today's incident... Yikes.

Unknown said...

I feel sad when little kids make the big mistakes.
I'm glad ya'll live so close to the hospital, and overall, it seems that this is all just life for Liel - happy, sad, in pain, scared, feeling loved by her mom, and even with treats.
It must have been scary for you, too, and I felt that.
It seems that the stitches come out really soon. Kids must have an amazing ability to regenerate - like the Borg, but way better.

the main stitch upholstery said...

ah yes, bed jumping. a favorite naughty pastime i have been trying to end for years. hopefully liel ended it with stitches. painful way to learn a lesson.

koonj said...

What an ordeal!

I would have been in a million pieces. You're a strong mother, thank goodness for Liel's sake. Glad to read that she is doing much better.

Abby said...

Oh my goodness, I'm so glad Liel is o.k. Bless her heart. How did you hold up through all of this??? Russell had to have the straight jacket once and Colin said it was awful.

Paige said...

Poor bunnies (all of you!) That straitjacket thingie is awful--my son had to be restrained in it at around age 2 when he took a flyer onto a glass table and cut his eyebrow open...Ack. I'm so glad she's ok, and hope you are, too!

BirdEtt said...

wow, i'm late on this. but poor liel. reading the other blogs above, she's a super strong kid and seems to have an amazing spirit about it all. scars are always a good sign of character. you can tell her that... they spur fun conversations. Someone: "hey, what's that on your nose?" Liel: "i was riding a wooden pontoon down a river in the amazon when this crocodile monkey snake grabbed me by my nose and carried me into the very tip top of his tree. i stayed there for a week and learned the ways of the wild. i know speak three lost languages." yep, fun kid stuff. but nonetheless, poor liel:(