The Latest in the "Kayley" Saga

We hadn't even been home for very long when I heard a thump in the living room and Kayley started to cry. Sometimes as a parent, you have to distinguish between certain cries and determine the level of severity and if you should run right over and check things out or if it can wait a minute. Especially when you hear thumps and crying on a regular basis. And this thump and cry sounded like it was about a 7 on a scale of 1-10 with a 10 being the most severe.

Anyway, I am getting off track here. Since Sam was in the living room with her, I assumed he was taking care of whatever had happened while I rushed around the kitchen trying to get some stuff done before putting Christian to bed. I heard Sam ask Kayley if she had bumped her head and she kind of half whimpered, half cried, "yes." Apparently, her back was to him and so he didn't see how badly she was hurt. Then, she came around the corner from the living room into the kitchen and I glanced over at her. And I was horrified.

Blood was pouring down her face as she walked towards me. I could hardly see her face because of the blood. I rushed over to her and saw a huge, deep, gaping hold in her forehead. That is the only word I can use to describe it -- it just looked like a huge hole. My knees went weak and I let out a yell for Sam to come in and help me as I franctically grabbed for paper towels. I will admit that I was not a calm, reassuring parent at this point. I don't know if it was the blood or what, but I just really panicked. Sam told me to put pressure on the wound, which I did, while he rushed around finding our first-aid supplies. The blood was seeping through the paper towels and at one point, I lifted them up to glance at the wound and felt like I might pass out. When Sam got a look at it, he said, "it looks like it went down to the bone."

Meanwhile, Aubrie came over to see what was happening and the first thing she said was, "Mommy, pray. Pray for her. Pray right now for God to heal her." So we did pray for Kayley as we continued to try and stop the bleeding and get her head bandaged up.

She was in much better shape than I was and just stood there kind of whimpering while I held the towel to her head. I told Sam that we needed to get her to the E.R. because I was pretty sure it needed stitches. So everyone piled into the van and Sam sat in the back with Kayley, holding pressure on her head while I drove. The traffic seemed to be crawling but we got there in just a few minutes and Sam carried Kayley in while I parked.

The nurses took very good care of Kayley and got her all cleaned up until the doctor came to take a look at her. They got the blood off of her face but she still had some in her hair. They then put some numbing gel on the wound to prepare it for the stitches that were to come. I felt so bad for her because she had just been in the hospital a couple weeks ago to get that IV when she was really sick and so she was extra nervous around anyone wearing scrubs. But, she did such a good job and was so brave throughout the whole ordeal. They had to put her in a velcro blanket thingy to hold her hands to her sides while they did the stitches and I talked to her and squeezed her feet and tried to reassure her. She did really good and didn't cry too hard while the doctor worked on her.

I asked about how deep the wound was and the doctor said it was obviously deep enough to require stitches but that he wasn't concerned about it going down into the skull and that it would probably cause very minimal scarring. So that was a relief!

During this time, Sam had taken Aubrie and Christian to Walmart down the road because we had to wait awhile for the doctor and I needed some things anyway so it was just me with Kayley for most of our time there. Pretty soon, she was stitched up (just three stitches, surprisingly) and ready to go and Sam and the other kids arrived right after she was done. While we were waiting for our final instructions from the nurse about how to take care of the wound, I opened the door and overheard one nurse telling the other nurses that it was so nice to "see a family like that and to see them laughing." That was nice to hear and she was probably talking about when Kayley and I were waiting for the doctor and I was doing a very silly version of "patty-cake" with Kayley that kept her laughing hysterically in an attempt to distract her and make the time pass. The nurse said she could hear Kayley laughing all the way down at her desk. It was pretty funny and it was good to see Kayley laughing even though she had a big wound on her head.

So here we are, a day later, and I haven't heard Kayley complain about her head once. The wound looks 100% better than it did when I first saw it. It looks much better closed and stiched up! I can't seem to get rid of the image in my head of when I first saw her come around that corner and the hole in her head--- ahhh! That is something a parent never wants to see. Anyway, I am thankful that it wasn't more serious and that she is fine now. We have to keep the wound dry for 24 hours and put anti-biotic ointment on it a few times a day. On Friday she can go get the stitches taken out.

Oh, and how did she get the wound, you may be asking? We aren't quite sure but it looks like she was either bouncing around on a toy and fell forward into the corner of the wall or she just tripped on something and fell face first into the corner of the wall. Either way, it makes me feel guilty that I didn't prevent it and also makes me want to cover our entire house in foam padding!!!! I guess this is just a part of life with kids, right?