We have had our first trip to the ER for stitches. Not a first I am happy about. Vincent built a "bridge" from the couch to the coffee table with pillows. Christopher was standing on the couch and stepped on it, falling through face first into the coffee table. I grabbed him and saw the blood coming out and freaked. It was even coming out of his eye like tears. I am pretty much useless as a physician when this type of thing happens to my own kids. The tough part was deciding what to do with the situation. Initially it looked superficial until Peter pulled on it and it came gaping open. Peter suggested getting some glue from his office and just gluing it. I was afraid it would split open, and then would not be able to get stitched. This is one of those situations I find a bit difficult as a mom and pediatrician. Where do you draw the line? How much home treatment is too much? We really had to step back and ask ourselves what we would recommend to a patient in our office. The answer was stitches. So off to the ER we went!
Bad picture, but the split was so close to his eye. I cringe thinking about what would have happened to his eye had it been over just a bit.
Here I am holding the topical numbing medicine on the lac. He is saying "cheese" in this picture:
We opted to not sedate him, but just to papoose him. ( well, Pete opted for that. He didn't want to have to wait around for 4 hours) He tried not to cry which just about broke my heart. I did cry a bit myself.
The ER doc did a great job and was pretty fast. He did some stitch that looped under the laceration with only a knot on either side
Christopher was a trooper! He was smiling and chattering in the car on the way home.
Here I am holding the topical numbing medicine on the lac. He is saying "cheese" in this picture:
We opted to not sedate him, but just to papoose him. ( well, Pete opted for that. He didn't want to have to wait around for 4 hours) He tried not to cry which just about broke my heart. I did cry a bit myself. 
The ER doc did a great job and was pretty fast. He did some stitch that looped under the laceration with only a knot on either side
Christopher was a trooper! He was smiling and chattering in the car on the way home.
4 comments:
Oh your poor sweet baby. I'm surprised he was so chipper during all of that.
It's so difficult watching your child in pain, especially when they are young and afraid (under 10).
I'm glad it all worked out and wasn't as serious as it could have been, should the cut have been further into his eye.
Yikes! My stomach flipped over when I read and reread your post. This must have been awful for all of you. I am glad that you and Peter were able to take Christopher to the ER for his stitches. Bill's incredibly calm under those situations and somehow I have been able to manage through our injuries but when there's blood, I freak. Hopefully, Christopher will not remember any of this except maybe as an opportunity to perpetually blackmail Vinny.
Oh that poor little guy! He looked like he handled it pretty well though! He sure is cute, too.
My heart was in my throat! Your baby! ACK!! He looks like he took it all in stride though. Now, how will YOU ever recover?? Shudder!
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