Those who swoon easily, be forewarned, there are pictures of Hallie's stitches. That's right folks, Hallie had to get stitches tonight. It's always such a hard call to know whether to bring your child into the doctor, especially when it's after hours. But, tonight we decided to do just that.
Tonight while I was doing the dishes, I suddenly heard Hallie crying like she had been stabbed. Those of you who know Hallie know that she cries like this mostly when she feels she has been wronged in some way, so I wasn't too concerned. Rachel came up to report that Hallie had somehow hit her head. My response was to have her come up if there was blood -- no one came back up, so I assumed all was well (I know -- super good mom). 30 minutes later everyone came into the family room for scriptures and then some Mario Bros. While Jon was reading scriptures he looked over at Hallie and noticed blood on her pajamas. After some further investigating we realized that she had hit her head while running in the basement and she had a super deep cut -- we didn't notice it because it was hiding under her hair.
We cleaned it up and left the kids playing nintendo while Jon tried to read about head wounds online. After getting through maybe the first bullet point, he had to come and get me to finish reading because he was getting light-headed. I knew he had a hard time with shots/blood, but hadn't realized that it also extended to just reading about those things. Pretty hilarious!
After reading up on it, I decided we should take her to the urgent care around the corner. She was really scared (she could still remember the last time she needed stitches), but she didn't cry or anything. We really had a good experience with the urgent care, which I was super glad about. While I was signing in they let Hallie choose a little teddy bear that she could hold during the stitches. The doctor was really nice to Hallie and treated her with respect. He sat down before doing anything and explained everything that was going to happen, which to Hallie really makes a big difference -- she needs to know every step so she knows what to plan for. The doctor let her know that they were going to be giving her shots around the cut, and it was really going to hurt for about 2 minutes, but then she wouldn't feel anything at all. He promised if she held really still he would give her a special bonus prize. All in all, I really liked the doctor and thought that he approached the situation just right for Hallie.
Hallie was so sweet during the whole thing. She kept asking what they were doing and what different things were for. She cried while they gave her the shots to numb her head, but she didn't move even once. And then, once it was numbed up, she didn't even give a whimper. In fact, they have probably never had a more talkative patient. She just chattered away all during the whole thing telling the doctor all about Easter and Marmee and Grandma -- joking with the doctor about what colors she did and didn't like. In short, she was amazing. The doctor was super impressed that she didn't so much as flinch through the entire process. He told her he had never had such a still patient, adult or child. As a prize for being his best patient ever, he gave her $1!! And then to top it all off, she got a sucker on her way out the door. Who knew that getting stitches could be so good?!
Since the cut had been numbed, Hallie was feeling pretty great. She was excited to come home and show everyone all the things she had gotten. As she was walking downstairs with Jon, I heard her relaying the excitement she had felt at the doctors special prize, and then I heard her say, "No doctah evah gives anyone money!" It made me smile.
Overall, a pretty traumatizing experience for Jon (who still gets dizzy just thinking about Hallie's stitches), and an exciting yet painful one for Hallie. Unfortunately, the numbing shots have worn off now, so Hallie and I are sitting up watching a movie. Hopefully it will keep her mind off her head long enough that she can fall asleep. Wish us luck!
Tonight while I was doing the dishes, I suddenly heard Hallie crying like she had been stabbed. Those of you who know Hallie know that she cries like this mostly when she feels she has been wronged in some way, so I wasn't too concerned. Rachel came up to report that Hallie had somehow hit her head. My response was to have her come up if there was blood -- no one came back up, so I assumed all was well (I know -- super good mom). 30 minutes later everyone came into the family room for scriptures and then some Mario Bros. While Jon was reading scriptures he looked over at Hallie and noticed blood on her pajamas. After some further investigating we realized that she had hit her head while running in the basement and she had a super deep cut -- we didn't notice it because it was hiding under her hair.
We cleaned it up and left the kids playing nintendo while Jon tried to read about head wounds online. After getting through maybe the first bullet point, he had to come and get me to finish reading because he was getting light-headed. I knew he had a hard time with shots/blood, but hadn't realized that it also extended to just reading about those things. Pretty hilarious!
After reading up on it, I decided we should take her to the urgent care around the corner. She was really scared (she could still remember the last time she needed stitches), but she didn't cry or anything. We really had a good experience with the urgent care, which I was super glad about. While I was signing in they let Hallie choose a little teddy bear that she could hold during the stitches. The doctor was really nice to Hallie and treated her with respect. He sat down before doing anything and explained everything that was going to happen, which to Hallie really makes a big difference -- she needs to know every step so she knows what to plan for. The doctor let her know that they were going to be giving her shots around the cut, and it was really going to hurt for about 2 minutes, but then she wouldn't feel anything at all. He promised if she held really still he would give her a special bonus prize. All in all, I really liked the doctor and thought that he approached the situation just right for Hallie.
Hallie was so sweet during the whole thing. She kept asking what they were doing and what different things were for. She cried while they gave her the shots to numb her head, but she didn't move even once. And then, once it was numbed up, she didn't even give a whimper. In fact, they have probably never had a more talkative patient. She just chattered away all during the whole thing telling the doctor all about Easter and Marmee and Grandma -- joking with the doctor about what colors she did and didn't like. In short, she was amazing. The doctor was super impressed that she didn't so much as flinch through the entire process. He told her he had never had such a still patient, adult or child. As a prize for being his best patient ever, he gave her $1!! And then to top it all off, she got a sucker on her way out the door. Who knew that getting stitches could be so good?!
Since the cut had been numbed, Hallie was feeling pretty great. She was excited to come home and show everyone all the things she had gotten. As she was walking downstairs with Jon, I heard her relaying the excitement she had felt at the doctors special prize, and then I heard her say, "No doctah evah gives anyone money!" It made me smile.Overall, a pretty traumatizing experience for Jon (who still gets dizzy just thinking about Hallie's stitches), and an exciting yet painful one for Hallie. Unfortunately, the numbing shots have worn off now, so Hallie and I are sitting up watching a movie. Hopefully it will keep her mind off her head long enough that she can fall asleep. Wish us luck!
Poor Hal. I love the quote by her. She must've been so happy to get that surprise from the doctor! I hope she's feeling better now. i'm surprised you didn't tell me about this incident on the phone.
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