Not Exactly What I Had in Mind.....

When I said the other day that our weekends could use a little more adventure, this isn't exactly what I had in mind:

Yes, your eyes do not deceive you. We spent Saturday night in the ER so Merrick could get his first (and hopefully last) stitches. Long story short, he is okay and I think Craig and I are much more traumatized from the incident. Long story long, here goes.....

Saturday night we decided to give him a bath in the tub in our bathroom. I scooped him out and wrapped him in a towel. He started to walk away from me and tripped, and of course since his arms were in the towel he couldn't catch himself. I tried so hard to get to him in time before he fell, but I couldn't. His eye smashed right into the marble trim at the bottom of our shower.

At first Craig and I were in denial. I mean, the cut was so small lengthwise. But it was very deep, much deeper than the scar on his OTHER eye (grrrrrr), so off to the ER we went. He wasn't really in pain at all after the initial fall, and it wasn't bleeding too badly, so he was in great spirits in the ER. Good thing, because we were in the waiting room for about 3 hours before anyone saw us! One of the nurses would come out periodically to announce the next patient to come back....ie "Amanda Poole", and Merrick right away would shout out "Amanda Poole!!!!"....we were just cracking up. Well then almost the entire waiting room started laughing when he was doing this, so of course that just encouraged him more. It was so funny!

So finally it's our opportunity to go back to see the doctor, and Craig and I were very naive because we thought for sure they would use some of that stitch glue and we could call it a night. Unfortunately that was not the case - the doctor said the cut was way too deep and our only option was stitches. We were beside ourselves. I know so many kids have gone through so much more, and so many parents may think that compared to what they've gone through, this would be a walk in the park. But to me and Craig, this was probably the worst thing we could hear!!

Because of the location of his cut - right by his eye - they would have to completely restrain him (ie wrap him up with his arms in a sheet and a nurse to restrain his head), then give him the shots and then do the stitches. For the faint at heart or the type for no drama, now would be the time to stop reading.

I had to step out beforehand and CRY MY EYES OUT before the procedure. There was no way I wanted Merrick to see me lose it. I came back in and forced myself to get it together. They had to restrain him, a nurse held his head, I held his upper body and Craig held his legs. I'm tearing up even as I write this, but believe it or not I want to have these memories for when we look back. Obviously Merrick screamed when they did the shots...no question that hurt. But I think far worse for him was the fact that he was being restrained. And what tore me and Craig apart, besides the fact that the shots hurt, was that WE, his own parents, were the ones restraining him. What did I want to do? Grab him off the table, kick the doctor in the teeth (sorry doc, but it's true!) and run out of there!!

We got through it, Merrick was just sweating like crazy because he was so worked up and still crying, so I told Craig to get all the instructions from the doctor because I was taking him out of there STAT (heh heh). We're in the waiting room, I'm crying and trying hard not to let him see me. Then when Craig walked out to the waiting room, I saw that his face was streaked with tears too.

For all you parents out there that have had to go through MUCH worse - KUDOS. I don't know how you do it. I guess you just have to do it.

I was thinking, Merrick is sort of at the WORST possible age for this thing. When they're infants, of course it's going to hurt and they don't understand and I wouldn't wish it on any infant. But they don't necessarily feel the restraint factor, so once the shots are over it's no longer painful. For older kids, you can explain..."okay honey, the shot was the worst part and now you won't feel a thing!"...but for him, he doesn't get what that means necessarily. All he knows is he's got 3 adults holding him down, 2 of which are the people he's supposed to trust the most!

Well, what's done is done and I'm sure he'll look at his scar later and think it's just the coolest thing ever. He's probably half forgotten about the event already. Craig and I? We'll NEVER forget it!! I just keep telling myself it could have been much worse...we're lucky it was only a few stitches.