Mama Trauma

I've alluded to Greyson's staples already, but figured it was time to tell the tale. We have a 4th of July party every year. This year was the 6th annual, and they are very family-friendly affairs. The Crown's brought their water slide and the kids enjoyed it as much as they could on a rainy, rainy day.

We were worried about rain, and it's always a factor in Florida in the summertime. We've had rain before, but usually just the usual afternoon quickie thunderstorm. Then it's over and we resume the backyard festivities. Not this year. This year it was dry all day until about an hour after the party started. And then it rained. all. night.

Thankfully we have a nice sized covered patio and two sun canopies out in the yard. So we were not all crowded into the house, but still. Rain. All. Night. Mike grilled in the rain with an umbrella. About 3 pounds of dirt and grass got tracked into the house, and honestly I just gave up on trying to keep it clean. The kids had a blast outside in the rain (very little thunder or lightning the whole evening), but the little ones got cold and played indoors almost the entire night. We watched all of the movies we have on the DVR - Toy Story, Ice Age, Cars, The Incredibles. G's entire toy collection ended up strewn across the living room, but the kids had fun, darnit.

They did get a little stir-crazy, and they were all up late. At one point Clay and Marina flew through the house and out the front door with a crying Nikolai who smashed his face on someone's knee out on the water slide. They returned an hour or so later with stitches and smiles from Nikolai. Tough little guy. He compared the doctor sewing his face up to just sewing through felt - no biggie. At this point it's past 11, and I'm worn out from entertaining the kids inside. The jello shots are a big hit with the adults outside and I feel like I'm missing the party.

Greyson and Julian were jumping on the couch, taking the cushions off the ottoman and jumping back and forth, back and forth. Greyson fell backward and hits his head on the ottoman (minus the cushion, so it's just wood frame with upholstery fabric covering). I see his little face crumple and scoop him up to comfort him. We head back to my bedroom to get away from the rest of the crowd. I lay down on the bed, cradle his head, and get that sick feeling in my stomach as I realize my hand is wet, wet with his blood, and quite a bit of it. I leap up, grab my purse, head out to the living room, ask someone to get Mike, then tell Mike to stay home. Get to the kitchen and ask Chris and Marina to look and see if he needs stitches. Wonder what to do... and decide it's best to seek a medical opinion. I know head wounds bleed a lot, but if there's this much blood it must be a bit of a gash. Marina advises me to go to the After-hours pediatrics and avoid the ER if I can. Both are just up the street. By this time G is calm and not crying anymore. I ask for a towel to protect my car from blood and pull out of the driveway probably less than 10 minutes after the accident.

The After-hours place is closed, and it's just about midnight. So we head to the Emergency Room across the street. Greyson is remarkably calm, clad only in a diaper and lots of blood. I try to clean him up a bit as we get registered and see the triage nurse. He's not bleeding anymore but I haven't really gotten a good look at the injury because of all that blond hair back there. We see a Physician's Assistant and he shows me the cut, about 1/2 inch long horizontal cut just at the back of his skull. He just hit the ottoman perfectly on his skull and it split open. They put numbing medicine on his head, wrap him up like a mummy and make us wait approximately 45 minutes. That's a long time with a little dude in a little hospital room. We watched a little tv (Life, narrated by Oprah Winfrey) and walked around a bit. Eventually he fell asleep in my arms and had to be woken up for the staples. He howled for that part, as the PA put three staples in, I paid our co-pay and we were out of there by 1:30. Back to the party and into bed, as the stragglers wound things down.

The next morning Greyson slept until at least 10am, and I got up to sweep and steam-mop the kitchen and dining room. I still don't think our house is back to normal after that whopper of a party. But Greyson got his staples out 10 days later and is good as new. He still jumps on the couch, but we try to stop him.