Mom returned the littles just after the schoolers got home. All the kids were totally excited to see Grammy (as always). There's just something about my Mom being in the presence of my children that instantly makes them spastic. She only stayed a few minutes, but long enough for the kids to achieve haywire status. When they get like that, the best thing for everyone is to find somewhere or something to vent their energy.
I knew Adam would be a long time coming to my rescue, since he was working longer hours, in efforts to procure a 5 day Thanksgiving weekend. It was an extremely pleasant day and thought I was feeling well enough to take all four kids down to the park. Hayes and Houston wanted to ride their scooter and bike (respectively) down to the park. I figured that would aid in spending some energy and decided it best for the rest of us to just drive. I trailed them down the street to the park. Hayes kept shouting out to Houston, "Look out for goose poop!"
It wasn't long and we arrived at the park. Holt was sound asleep in his car seat, so I left him in his carrier and trekked him out to the playground. The rest of the gang was far ahead of me and already running, sliding, and everything else. The kids were having a great time and I was enjoying being outside watching them. We must have been there about 30 minutes. Houston and Hayes were swinging and I was watching Hawkins on the playset. The big boys were playing so well together. Though I was watching Hawkins, I could hear them laughing constantly.
Suddenly, laughter was broken with screaming. Hayes screaming to be exact. I turned around, rather non-chalantly, not figuring on anything much out of the ordinary. In fact, I was kind of expecting it, since it is quite common for things to turn south quickly when Houston and Hayes are playing together splendidly . And 99 percent of the time, it is Hayes who becomes the victim. However, I was not expecting this!
As I turned to see what the commotion was about, I saw Hayes laying with his tummy on the swing, covering his head with both hands, looking at the ground, and crying. Houston was standing off to the side of his swing and holding it in his hands. I went over to Hayes, expecting to just give him a hug and some encouragment to be strong. As he heard me coming, he lifted his head and I noticed his face was gushing blood. It was about that time that Hayes realized his face was gushing blood as well and began to freak out. Then Houston realized Hayes' face was gushing blood and hysteria set in. I do believe Houston was crying harder than Hayes. "I'm sorry, Hayes" he was repeatedly saying through the sobbing all the way to the car.
Thankfully, there was one other family at the park. I quickly asked them if they would be so kind as to return our bike and scooter to our house. There was no room in my car and I wanted to get Hayes to the doctor as soon as possible. I scrambled to get all four children loaded in the car. I ran home, grabbed a bottle from the fridge, forgot the diaper bag, and began driving to the pediatrician. The nurse's line and appointment line was already shut down for the day so I was not even sure if they would treat us once we got there.
I called Adam at least 3 times on the 10 minute drive to the doctor and could not reach him. I even called several of his co-workers, in efforts to reach him, but also without success. I started to wonder how I was going to tend to all 4 boys, one of which was going to be sewn up. Fortunately, just as I was arriving at the doctor, Adam called. We walked in the office at 4:45. Because Dr. Owen is awesome, he agreed to go ahead and fix us up. His nurse, Julie, began to clean Hayes' face. (Picture below is not for the faint of heart or the weak stomachs.)
Upon inspecting the wound, Dr. Owen gave us the option of stitches or glue. We allowed Hayes to decide. Adam put it like this, "Hayes, would you like to use a really long needle to fix your eye, or would you like to just glue it?" Of course, Hayes chose the glue, as did we. As Dr. Owen prepared to glue the cut, he opened a package of sterilized scissors. Houston gasped, thinking that we had all lied to Hayes and that the scissors were for Hayes' face. To avoid panic in Hayes, we quickly explained the purpose of the scissors was to simply cut the steri-strips that would be placed over the cut. Fortunately, news of the scissors as weapons against Hayes' face was averted.
Hayes was such a brave and tough guy! Aside from crying initially at the scene of the crime, he did not cry again.
No comments:
Post a Comment