Five Stiches Later

I don't even know where to start this story... I guess at the beginning.  It was a dark and cold early, early Thursday morning. Anna's birthday ready to be celebrated when the sun comes up.  Everyone is tucked into their beds and sound asleep.  Chad and I hear a cry that sounds desperate and so sad. I ask Chad to go check on Nora, see if he can calm her down. The clock says it is 2 am.

He goes in and finds her asleep in some sort of nightmare. She fights him as he tries to pick her up to sooth her. She cries for dada even though he is holding her. She throws herself around in his arms. He sets her on the ground to give her some space to do her thing or to get a better hold to pick her up again. Seconds later she has launched herself into the corner of a small wooden chair in her room. She wakes, finally.

I rush in at that point when I hear the connection between her head and the chair and the cries that follow. As Chad picks her up again, she is rubbing her eyes and when the lights come on there is blood all over her face.  Immediately we know that a trip to the ER is in our near future.

Chad and I stayed surprisingly calm for that time in the morning. Chad gets Anna up and she is quick to get dressed. We say Happy Birthday to her as we run around getting ready to get out the door. By 2:30 am we are at the ER in Maple Grove.

We were greeted with amazingly nice and compassionate nurses and nice private rooms. The doctor confirms that yes, stitches will be needed. Probably 4 or 5 of them. How did this happen? We have to tell the story twice. Not a highlight of the morning.  Happy Birthday Anna is also said a few times throughout the experience.

The movie Tangled is called up on the TV in the room. Anna is occupied and it catches Nora's attention for a few minutes at a time. We will need to hold this cotton ball on her cut for 20-30 minutes. Can we make sure that happens? I wasn't sure we would be able to but Nora left the tape on and we snuggled while we waited for the site to get numb.

As it got closer to sewing time, we got nervous. How would they be able to keep her under control when they use the needle to completely make sure she doesn't feel a thing when they do the stitches? Well, in walked Chadwick (a name that my Chad hates when used on him). We found it humorous that was his name. He was big and strong and was not afraid to be Nora's enemy for the next 10 minutes. This will be the worst of it they say. She will feel this needle for a few seconds before it goes completely numb.

And then the worst part of the actual stitching will be Chadwick and that he is holding her down along with daddy. She started by screaming ANNA, ANNA and then switched to DADA, DADA, before it was MAMA, MAMA.  It was gut wrenching but quick.

Five stitches later and mommy's lap and she is totally fine. Already oblivious to what just happened. Having a little goldfish snack helped too.

We were home 2.5 hours later by 4:30 am. Happy Birthday Anna but you must go back to bed for a few hours. We slept until the 8 am hour and then up for the day to celebrate. As you can see here she was totally fine after her "nap".

5 days later the stitches came out and she didn't even flinch. It is looking food. There may be a small line scar there but only time will tell. Overall, she was such a trooper through it all! <3

The story is written very dramatically and it was a dramatic moment but really once we got into motion with what we needed to do everyone was calm and collected. We had a family bonding experience that I believe grows a family closer together. It helped us learn so much about each other regarding how to love and care for each other. And the memory of this ER trip being on her birthday will probably be one that Anna will never forget. In fact, I think it aided in the day being deemed her best birthday ever. And really, what parent doesn't like to hear that.