Well, this Friday the 13th we had a little bad luck. I met up at South Towne Mall with Jenn, Talitha, and their kids to play at Dino Land, or whatever you call that cute little place. Its a fun little playground type thing that's free. Anyway, we decided to head upstairs to the food court for some lunch, and about 2 bites into my corn dog from Hot Dog on a Stick Nixon fell and split his chin open. He had been standing backwards on his chair looking at Jace and Mila who got to sit at the cute kid table with chairs 1 foot off the ground wishing he could sit there too. Can you tell that I am kind of beating myself up for this one? How many times did I think to myself, "Just let him sit down there with the other kids. Who cares if he eats his lunch." But no, I wanted to be sitting by him so I could make sure he ate enough of his corn dog. Anyway, he must have slammed his chin so hard into the ground that was practically cement, because when I lifted him up blood was just dripping non-stop. Someone handed me a napkin (sorry, Jenn and Talitha, I don't know what was going on around me) and it quickly filled with blood. When I went to replace it with a wipe, it was still just gushing. I started to get really scared. I got a small look at the cut, or should I say gash, and just started saying how bad it was. Jace overheard me, and came over asking what I had said. I told him that it was really bad, and he looked at me so concerned and asked, "Is Nixon going to die?" I almost started crying. I had been so wrapped up in Nixon, that I made Jace really scared. I told him no, and he went right on eating his corn dog (which he finished before we left, by the way). Nixon was crying this whole time, and I could see blood inside his mouth too, so now I was worried about his teeth. They all seemed to be okay, but he did have a cut in his lower lip. When the blood finally stopped coming, I looked at the cut and it was awful. It was like the force of landing on the ground had just popped it right open. Oh, I wanted to cry. Jenn went to the first aid place and got a band aid, and offered to drive me to the hospital so that I could make sure he didn't start bleeding again, and Talitha was going to take Jace with her to her house, and then it ended up that Jace wanted to come with me, and with the bleeding stopped, and Nixon looking exhausted (it is now 1:00 and nap time) I told them to go, and I would just take them both. They were so sweet, and I am so glad they were there. Anyway, I called Brock and he was able to meet me at Alta View's ER, and boy am I glad he did. It was the worst thing I have ever had to watch. I can't even imagine the pain Nixon was in. They had to have a doctor holding his head still, another one holding his legs down, and Brock and I each holding a hand, while another doctor stitched him up. First though, he had to stick a needle right into the cut to numb it. I thought I was going to start bawling, but I surprised even myself and stayed really strong throughout. Nixon was shaking, and screaming so badly. Then started the stitching. I feel like he wasn't completely numb when they got started because he kept saying ow the whole time. Then, about 10 minutes into it, he calmed down, looked me in the eyes, and we just stared at each other while the doctor kept going. I asked him if he wanted to sing a song and he said yes. So right there in the middle of all these people I don't know I started singing to him. He never took his eyes off me. Then I sang another song, and at the end he started crying OW again. I think the numbing medicine must not have gotten to the last corner. I asked if he wanted another song and he yelled at the top of his lungs "NO! Hold you! Hold you!" That was hard. I wanted to hold him so bad. Anyway, it lasted about 15 minutes and then I did, I held him. Brock came over to us and held us both. I was so glad it was over. He seemed to perk right up from that point on, and then fell asleep on the drive home. He had sure been through a lot. We gave him some Tylenol around 4:00, and since then we haven't had to give him anything. He slept through the night, and besides pointing at his chin and saying "Owie" a couple of times today, he has been completely normal. I am just so glad that he is okay. Last night as I was laying him in his bed I just completely broke down and started sobbing. I guess I had been trying all day to be so strong for him, but now I could just let it out. I cried and cried for about 15 minutes. I couldn't help but to think that if I had just been watching him closer, or let him sit by the other kids, or this, or that, blah blah blah. You know how moms are. I felt like it was my fault that he had to endure all that horrible pain. Brock of course consoled me and told me everything I wanted to hear, but I will feel guilty about this for a long time. I love my little guy, and never want anything bad to happen to him!
Here are a couple of pictures.
Here are some of his shirt. Gross and weird, I know.
And here is the happy boy today. When I ask him to smile he closes his eyes really tight! It bled quite a bit after they put the stitches in and bandages on, and they told us not to get it too wet, so it looks kind of gross. Sorry.
