Owen's First ER Trip

Yup, Owen made it until he was 3 and a half for his first ER visit and today's visit was for stitches... on his face... mom's worse nightmare.

So at around 1pm today I was packing for our trip to Westfield, Addie was swinging in her swing while Owen was playing and keeping himself occupied. And for those of you that know Owen, he has one speed which is fast and he is always running. It has never been a problem for him because he is a fairly cautious kid but lately he has been so clumsy. I'm not sure if he is going through a growth spirt or what, but lately he has been tripping over air, which is kind of what happened today.

I was packing Owen his bag in his room when all of the sudden I heard a huge crash, thump and then the ear screeching sounds of Owen crying right outside of his bedroom door. I ran to see him dripping in blood. He got himself good. From first look he split the side of his mouth and after sitting him in the bathroom realized his teeth got the top of his lip pretty good too. Poor little man was a mess and there was lots of red stuff. I grabbed a wet washcloth stuck it in his mouth and tried to piece together what happened and what I gathered was he tripped over the leg of Addie's swing and landed face first into the carpet. I examined his face and I knew the side of his lip was going to need stitches... I could see tissue/muscle it was gross. It was small but still made my stomach flip for just a second. I called his doctors office, emailed a picture of the cut to one of the nurses and she said I should head over to Boston Children's...

Boo-Boo from the front minutes after it happened 

 Split open... 

 O fell asleep in the car on the way to the hospital with the washcloth in his mouth 

I packed up the kids, called Eric to meet us (did I mention that I pass out when I see needles -- yes good times but not helpful in this type of situation) and headed into the city. The hospital was awesome. All of the staff/doctors were friendly, accommodating and made the best out of this situation. The doctor came in examined Owen and said he would need 1 or 2 stitches... damn. They proceeded to numb his face and gave him a kids dose of relaxant which was suppose to make him loopy which it did a little but mostly it just made him mean/angry.

Waiting for the doctor with daddy and the iPad 

 With the numbing medicine on his face (he kept trying to lick it off so they put it on a cotton ball which is probably why he felt the first stitch since we couldn't actively place the numbing solution on it continuously for 20 minutes)

 Addie was stir crazy too and wanted to hang out with her big brother and grab her toes 

When it came time for the stitches to be placed Addie and I left the room while Eric stayed with Owen. Poor little guy felt the first one and screamed the kind of scream that just wrapped my heart out. The other one I guess he didn't feel but it was a battle from there. Between the medicine and the pain our little Owen just wouldn't stop crying. He was very concerned that he didn't have a pillow so he could rest. He would calm down for a second then start right back up again. At one point we got a brief relief when the nurse bought him a rocket popsicle which he loved and cried when he was done because he wanted another one. Once we convinced him he could have a popsicle when he got home we ventured home but not before he wanted to chase a pigeon. With his meds still in him he had no balance so I was holding him up while he was laughing chasing this pigeon down the streets of Boston.

Enjoying his popsicle 

 Proof that he did have this kind of popsicle at the hospital even though he doesn't remember 

 All stitched up

It was an adventure I could have lived without but at least he is ok. Oh and we gave him the same kind of popsicle when we got home he took two licks said he didn't really like it. We asked him if he had ever had one like this before and he said no -- so it doesn't look like he remembers much of his hospital stay.