Eleven Stitches of Christmas

No one ever prepares you, as a parent, to see inside your kid's body. Mr. Pretty fell while playing today and split his scalp to the skull. The gash was quite impressive -- over two inches in length. It took three stitches to sew up the membrane that covers the skull and eight stitches to seal the scalp. He was a trooper. He cried a lot when he first fell (his babysitter told me, which I could hear through the cell phone), but not on the table at the hospital. In fact, he fell asleep while the techs were putting in the last few stitches. Note, in these artful photographs I took with my phone (to keep Kurt updated while he was on his way), the Frankenstein-like wrapping that was holding his dressing on until we got to see the doc. Note also the copious amounts of blood on his shirt; blood was also in his ear, on his hands, under his nails and even in his shoes!



Interestingly, the paramedics that attended to him at the playplace couldn't get him to go for a ride in the ambulance! His first refusal of medical care! He gets that honestly for yours truly. The paramedics said it was acceptable to drive him to the urgent care. When I pulled him out of the babysitter's car at the urgent care, his eyes welled up and he said, "I hurt my head, mommy."

Anyway, no concussion. He was super chatty boy, played while waiting for the numbing gel to take affect on his head and was otherwise the biggest, no-whiningest boy I ever did see. On a final cutie note, when we got home, Aron burst into tears because he was so worried about his baby brother, and he was so glad to see that Nate was OK.

Now I need a stiff drink. And in three months, I'm totally going to have it.