Anna's Big Owie

Miss Anna has finally had her first visit to the ER. She posed for this picture, taken shortly after returning home this morning. Her lip was still a little swollen at the time, but has since returned to it's normal shape.

So here's the story--This morning, we were running around getting ready for church. I was pushing the boys through breakfast and having them get socks and shoes on while setting out Bibles, coats, etc. Rob and Anna were upstairs getting dressed. Amidst all the chaos, one of the boys ran to me and told me Daddy needed me. I ran up the stairs to find Rob cradling Anna on the ground with her whimpering. Rob looked up and said, "Anna cut her lip falling on the bed frame. I think she needs stitches." I didn't really want a closer look, so I got a wet washcloth and then we shifted gears for an ER trip. I had to call a fellow nursery committee member to cover us for the day, then we were off.

We got the kids out the door slower than I expected due to the fact that the boys were both hysterical. They were so upset that Anna was hurt, thought she would be in the hospital for days, or even that she was going to die. We assured them that she'd be just fine and it wouldn't take too long. Anna and I sat in a chair while the boys got ready. She clutched her blanky and whimpered quite a bit, but she handled it all better than expected. She had been calling herself "Tommy" all morning and I asked her, "Did Tommy get hurt or did Anna get hurt?" She replied in a sad voice, "Anna."

After a seat switch, we were off. We thought it best that one of us sit in the back with Anna. We put Matthew in the front with me, which he found pretty cool, especially since HE could open the door and DADDY couldn't. We arrived to find the ER parking lot pretty empty and got the troops inside. Anna and Daddy checked in while I got the boys settled, then the two of them headed back for treatment. The boys and I did pretty well together in the waiting room. We read books, watched The Three Stooges, took a walk to the gift shop (which was closed) and found a vending machine. I had oodles of change, so I treated them to a candy bar. By the time we returned from our walk, they were ready for us to go back and see Anna. She was picking out a toy from the toy box and looking like she got decked in the mouth. She was pretty swollen from the stitches and still sobbing lightly.

Anna held up pretty well while both the nurse and the doctor checked her mouth. Turned out she had cut her face above her lip and the cut went pretty deep. Thankfully, it didn't go through to her mouth and her teeth were perfectly fine. Her nurse is a friend of ours from church and works in Anna's nursery, so that helped her feel a little more comfortable. They tried to "glue" her ouchie shut two or three times, but it didn't work, so they had to do stitches. Rob and two nurses were needed to hold her down, and I guess she's a pretty strong little girl, because they were all exhausted by the end. She got three shots right in the sore area, then four stitches. By the third stitch, she was arching her back and popping her legs up in anger and frustration. Rob was able to hold her once it was all done and they were cleaning up. She'll go back on Saturday to have the stitches removed.

Anna whimpered quite a bit all the way to the store to get the ointment for her mouth. We let her pick out a special snack (Princess fruit snacks) and got her a movie with several different Nick Jr cartoons (one of which is Kai-Lan.) She's been pretty okay ever since and is back to her normal activity level. She did take a three hour nap this afternoon, which was desparately needed. We have to keep the wound clean and dry until the stitches are removed, so I think we'll be eating as non-messy as possible. Should be interesting, especially since the oven died again today! But that's another story.