Our First And Hopefully Last Trip To The ER

Every mother's nightmare is to have to take their child to the emergency room for illness or injury. Our first trip was last night. Right before bed Dayton was reaching across that small gap between your bed and night stand...he wanted to push buttons on Daddy's phone. On his way crawling backwards to the bed, his hand missed and the underside of his chin connected with the corner of the nightstand. Right away he started screaming (I was dripping wet from just getting out of the shower) and I ran for the ice pack imagining that he just lost his first tooth and blood would be everywhere or that his lip would be fat. I saw it happen and heard it happen and there was nothing I could do to stop it. When I got back upstairs, Daddy said he had a cut under his chin and that it wasn't really bleeding too bad. I was not expecting to find a gaping hole under his chin about an inch long!!! I knew immediately that he would need to get stitches. Daddy was calm and helped keep Dayton calm but he didn't immediately seem to realize that it needed stitches. I think it helped that Dayton couldn't see the cut and that there wasn't much blood. I got dressed and off we headed to the ER. Daddy stayed home with Saige. Fortunately the ER wasn't insanely busy and we were ushered in right away. They applied a numbing gel and band-aid (Dayton screamed for this) and then we waited 30 minutes for it to numb up and for the doctor to come and see us. It needed stitches (I didn't really need a doctor to tell me this). They strapped him to a papoose board so he couldn't move or wiggle. I couldn't even hold his little scared hand. Poor thing screamed and kept saying "mama, I want to hug you," "mama, I want you to hold my hand." I felt horrible that I couldn't do anything except stand where he could see me and touch his hair. The nurse held his head still. First they injected the area with more numbing agent via a small needle. Yes, he screamed for this too and I tried my best to not cry as they pried the flap of skin on his chin open. He wouldn't stop talking/screaming, which made it kind of hard for the doctor to stitch him. He calmed down after the first stitch and was able to answer some of my questions (I was hoping to soothe him a bit) and then when the doctor told him she needed to do two more stitches he started screaming again. "Mama, I want to hug you," "Mama, I want to go home," "Mama, I want out of here," "Mama, I want my blankie." My heart was breaking. After it was all over he calmed down immediately and then started screaming once he realized his shirt was all wet. He wanted his hospital bracelet OFF as well. The nurse came in with a brand new pair of PJ's with the character Dash from the incredibles on it. All was well in the world of a tired and traumatized 3 year old. He emphatically told me to "throw his other shirt away" as if it were to blame for his situation. 3 hours later (and 3 hours past his bedtime I might add) we made it home. We both crawled into bed together after proudly showing daddy his new shirt. Now the hard part is to keep it covered, change the dressing twice daily, keep it dry, free of food particles and in about a week we can uncover it to wash it and hopefully the stitches will be ready to fall out. I know that it could have been worse and that parents have had to deal with situations much more difficult, but that was a first for me. It was the hardest thing I've ever had to witness. No parent likes it when their child gets hurt but it is much more difficult to see them so scared, vulnerable and just wanting a hug and there is nothing you can do about it. I can only pray that it was our first and last trip to the ER.