A stitch in time...

It was only a matter of time.

We have been parenting for nearly eight and a half years and not a stitch to be had on any of our kids.

That is - until yesterday when Youngest Girl achieved the distinction of becoming the first to injure herself to the point of needing a quick trip to the doctor's for stitches. Five, to be exact.
(She just had to be first at something, I guess...)

She had been outside with Rick, her two older sisters, her cousin and her uncle and they were playing a variety of games requiring a ball. At one point the girls decided to start throwing the ball onto the play structure platform. However, there were a lot of rocks (collected by Eldest Girl/resident rock collector) sitting in precarious positions along the edges of the platform. Rick suggested that all the rocks be moved into a nearby wagon and the girl complied. Youngest Girl was interested by the assortment of rocks and apparently found a piece of slate in the wagon and then decided to climb back up to the platform by way of the rope ladder. Climbing one-handed while hanging onto the largish piece of slate did not go well and she slipped and fell, catching her chin on the sharp edge of the rock. Rick carried her in screaming and I saw the amount of blood and immediately ran for a wet towel. She calmed down rather quickly and we were able to assess the damage which looked very much in need of a few stitches to my completely untrained (and uninitiated-in-the-ways-of-huge-gashes-to-my-baby's-face!) eye.

We were fortunate to have an uncle and two grandparents in close proximity at the moment so Rick and I left the older two in their capable hands and rushed off to the doctor's office . I had called seeking advice (having never dealt with huge gashes in my baby's face in 8 years of parenting as I may have already mentioned...) and they told us to bring her right in. I was thankful that we were not going to have to go to the ER and sit and wait interminably for help.

Rick sat in the back of the car and held some gauze to her chin while I drove. I was feeling pretty high strung and concerned about what was to come - as was Rick. Youngest Girl was either completely exhausted from lack of nap or so shocked and traumatized by the experience that she promptly fell asleep. Perhaps it was a combination of the two. She slept for about 15 of the 20 minutes it took to get to the office. Once there she woke up but was rather groggy - which may have helped with what came next.

The nurse checked us in and shortly thereafter the doctor arrived to assess the wound. One of the nurses in the office suggested that they might be able to use a kind of wound super glue to repair the gash but we were soon to learn that due to the angle and location of the wound stitches were going to be necessary. Youngest girl sat very still and quiet while the doc prodded and probed around the site of the wound (which was too much for me to watch and I was thankful that Rick was the one holding her). Once the proclamation of stitches was made the doctor and nurse got to work prepping the room and Youngest girl was laid on the table and restrained by a straitjacket-like device that was slyly referred to as a "papoose." I thought for sure she would kick up a fuss at being removed from Rick's lap and restrained but she remained amazingly calm. The nurse was stationed at her head to keep it steady while the doctor worked so I sat by her feet and held on to her legs to let her know I was close. Rick stayed near her head and she was able to see him.

She was so very brave during the whole process. Much braver than I felt. The hardest part was the novocain when her eyes welled up and she whimpered but she stayed very still and let the doctor do what needed to be done. It was very quiet in the room during the procedure and I was so tense that I realized I was not just holding her legs but actually griping them to the point that I was probably restricting blood flow. I would not make a very good nurse.

Once it was all done the doctor put a bandage over her FIVE stitches and gave her a special sticker just for kids who had gotten stitches! She was also allowed to pick five stickers - one for each stitch - from the general sticker bin which made her very happy. She walked out with two princesses, two SpongeBob, and a Big Bird and with big plans to share her loot with her sisters and cousin.

She was given extremely high marks from both nurses we encountered as well as the doctor. They all said she was by far the bravest kid they have ever encountered who needed stitches! In fact, the nurse who was not in the room during the procedure could not figure out what was taking so long because she figured she'd been hearing howls and screams coming from the room if there were stitches involved. She could not believe that Youngest Girl got five stitches and there was not a peep to be heard!

Way to go, Brave Youngest Girl! But, for mom's sake please avoid the need to be so brave in the future! No more stitches, please.