You've Got Me In Stitches

So the last month seems to have been a bit accident prone. First Katrina eats random plant matter, then Emily falls and you guessed it, got stitches. Wow. In some ways it strikes me as just being one of those childhood things. On the other hand, Emily is the less rowdy of my two girls. I managed to survive my entire childhood without getting stitches. This could be because I liked to read a lot and was not into organized sports. I did my share of bike riding and tree climbing however, so maybe I'm just more graceful. :) My brothers both got stitches at different times. Christoph also remembers getting stitches as a child. So, Emily is by no means alone in her venture. The sad, or funny thing, depending on your perspective, is that she went through the entire thing without Mom or Dad.

Yep, you heard right. Seeing as I had just gotten back from a two and a half week trip, Christoph planned a romantic overnight date for us. Our friends the Divineys were kind enough to watch the girls for us. Little did they know what they were in for. Saturday morning Emily was outside playing. Somehow, she managed to trip and hit her forehead right on the edge of a brick. After some phone calls back and forth Amber and I decided it should get looked at by the doctor. By the time we figured out where she could be seen on a Saturday it was almost time for us to head back anyway. We were on the Oregon coast, about two hours away. We got some lunch and headed back, but arrived after all the excitement was over. Turns out it was good we had her seen since they put five stitches in her forehead. I felt bad that our friend had to go through such an ordeal with Emily but, I was also glad it was her. Emily knows Amber well and is comfortable with her and Amber is very capable of staying calm and doing what has to be done. I found out after the fact that she was also a great patient advocate for Emily which made me very happy.

Apparently, for whatever reason, Lidocaine (the numbing medicine) doesn't have much effect on Emily. Amber says she could feel the pain radiating through Emily's body as they stitched her up. One interesting thing about my daughter is she absolutely HATES being held down. I've learned this through having to give her eye drops, get sand out of her eyes, and deal with her earrings. If given the choice between being perfectly still and being forcibly held down, she will show incredible self-restraint in holding still. On the flip side there is no quicker way to cause a full on, freak-out fit then holding her down against her will. I had warned Amber about this and she told the nurses and doctor that they could not tie her up. They listened, and Emily rewarded their trust by holding completely still even though she was having a lot of pain. Unfortunately this doesn't relay to her mouth, so even though she doesn't move she is by no means quiet. According to witnesses she screamed almost the entire time.

Not to make this all about me, but I'm just not sure, as a Mother, how to feel about the whole thing. I mostly just feel horrible that my friend had to go through making the decision to have Emily seen, drive her there, and then spend two hours holding a screaming child who is getting her forehead sewn up three inches from your face. Ok, the sewing part didn't take two hours, there was getting checked in, waiting for the topical Lidocaine to start working, moving on the the injectable Lidocaine, you get the idea. I also feel bad for Emily who had to be so brave and go through all that pain without Mommy or Daddy to hold her and comfort her. Does it mean that I'm a bad Mom because I feel more sympathy and guilt for my friend then for my child? It probably helps that when we got back Emily greeted us with, "Why are you back already? I want to sleep here more then one night!" I feel bad I wasn't there to be strong for my baby, but at the same time I have a nagging feeling that Amber was probably more patient with her screaming then I would have been. The fact that Emily held still without restraint for the whole thing makes me proud and also scares the crap out of me. This girl likes control.

Fortunately her wound seems to be healing very well. The stitches came out practically painlessly and the scar seems to look lighter almost daily. At least on her forehead she can have bangs to cover it if she wants to. :) And to quote my friend Amber, "When she grows up, I'm going to have to tell her she can definitely handle drug-free childbirth."