This weekend we took a little trip to the Urgent Care. Not as much fun as
Oregon City.
The girls love to take the couch cushions off of the couch and jump from the couch onto the cushions. While doing this my sweet Ballerina took a not-so-graceful dive into the glider rocker. She began to scream and ran toward me holding her hand to her head just to the side of her right eye. I thought I saw blood but perhaps it was just a shadow. Once she got to me and pulled her hand away I saw blood, lots of blood. After I inhaled the air supply for the entire house, my Beloved took over as I went into flashbacks:
Kindergarten, in the school yard, my cousin ran, chasing a ball, and hit his head, just above the eye, on a large utility box in the school yard. He came running past me with blood running down his face. I remember hitting my knees screaming and telling all my friends to pray, just pray. I thought he was a goner for sure. Never mind that he was running and therefore not "THAT" kind of hurt.
Once I snapped back to reality I went into the bathroom to find out what I could do. My Beloved informed me we would have to take her to get stitches, I began walking in circles trying to decide what to do next. As you can see I am GREAT under pressure. Thankfully my sister-in-law, The Dall, was present and offered to stay with Beloise until we returned. We wrapped Ballerina's laceration with gauze and an ace bandage and placed her in the car. I did have the presence of mind to grab some books, a doll, her pink blanket and a jacket for her.
She was such a trooper, barely complained the entire trip to the Urgent Care. By this time I had regained my composure and was doing pretty good at holding things together. Once we got checked in and were in the room, we began making jokes about her paying close attention so she could get it right when she played doctor at home with her sister. An MA came in and put some ointment on the cut to numb the area. When Dr. Thumbtack came in and proceeded to rip the tape off of her head, pulling her hair in the process, the time for her keeping composure passed. He then proclaimed that since she was such an "active child" he would have to strap her down to give her the stitches. Every motherly instinct in my body wanted to yell "NO, she's a good girl, she'll be good, don't strap my baby down!!!" But they brought in the board with the velcro straps. A different assistant came in this time and he was very understanding and compassionate. He spoke as soothingly as possible to Ballerina and tried to keep her calm while getting the straps on her.
My Beloved was to hold her head while I held her hands to be sure that they didn't come out of the straps. I was doing so well up to the point of the needle coming through her skin, apparently this is where I went WHITE. I looked at my beloved and said "I'm gonna pass out." He nodded, I looked back and saw Dr. Thumbtack stitching away and as the skin was tugged and pulled in the most unnatural fashion, I lost consciousness. My beloved, not able to catch me with his hands was kind enough to throw out his leg for me to slide down on my way to the floor. Next thing I knew I was on the floor hearing my child screaming and begging for the doctor to stop. I thought that if I could hear what was going on I could get up and control myself enough to help. So up I went apologizing the whole time. I held on to her hands and looked around for a sink to vomit in. I looked back just in time to see him begging a new stitch and I was out again. Down the slide of my Beloved's leg and back onto the floor. Now I was having another flashback:
A hot August noon in Denver four years earlier. I hadn't eaten much and had been at an emotional funeral most of the day, we were at the graveside singing Hymns when I felt a little faint, I leaned back on my Beloved and said "I think I'm gonna faint.: "Just lean on me he said." So I leaned and almost immediately began hearing carnival music. . . duht duht duh duh, duh duh duht duht duh duh duht duht duh duh, when I opened my eyes I was on the grass behind a bush with one person lifting my legs up and The Dall coming toward me for mouth-to-mouth. She stopped short and I began apologizing.
Back to reality I was on the Urgent Care room floor while Dr. Thumbtack hollered at the kind nurse asking if he wanted to deal with "The flailing child or the fainting mother."
The nurse brought me the chair from across the room that I had so longingly looked at just before fainting the first time. He propped my feet up on it to rush the blood back to my pale face. Then went to help with Ballerina. Dr. Thumbtack told him to move me to a different room so I wouldn't hear the screams of my child. The nurse, being a father himself, looked at me and asked "Are you okay mom?" I nodded that I was fine and he told me to just stay on the floor for a while.
Meanwhile my poor baby was screaming so vehemently I could hear her little voice becoming hoarse. The pleadings of a scared child are almost more than a parent can take. But we knew it was for the best and so my Beloved, being the strong stomached one, comforted her the best he could. I found it ironic that some of the things she was screaming were the same things I said while bringing her into the world. I also was a little shocked with some of the doctors responses. And a bit convicted when I realized I had used the same sayings on her at other times. I also realized how ridiculous they must sound to a child who is more scared than hurt and therefore doesn't care if you "haven't touched her yet."
Finally it was over, they unstrapped her and gave her an orange Popsicle, I got one too. The kind nurse took my blood pressure and told me to stay as long as I needed, "We're 24 hours." He was very nice. . . I wish I remembered his name. The doctor was not my favorite person personality wise. . . it's probably best that I don't remember his name.
Overall Ballerina is doing great. We went to a birthday party Sunday and she acted as if nothing was wrong. It wasn't until bedtime that she asked for something for pain and I'm only half sure she really had any pain since she asked for a treat candy to make her feel better. She is currently enjoying picking out a different color band-aid for each day.
~And So That's What She Did
