Lera's ER Visit

This is not a milestone I ever planned to document.  I did not include the word "first" in the title, because I am not planning on subsequent visits to the ER.

The day after Halloween, the girls were watching a show downstairs, while I was upstairs checking my email.  After a few minutes I heard Lera crying and Chess saying, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"  I ran down to see blood dripping from Lera's forehead.  Apparently, she was standing in front of the TV, not moving, so Chess pushed her away.  Lera hit her head on the fireplace.

I wiped her head to get a look at it, and saw it was a pretty deep gash.  I called the doctor's office and they said to take her to the ER.

So there we were, on our way to the hospital, at 8:30 in the morning, still in our pajamas, not having eaten breakfast yet.


Not to worry: I grabbed a loaf of bread on our way out of the house, which you can see Lera eating in this picture.  Not to worry again: I took this picture while stopped at a red light.


The gash was trickling down, but thankfully not gushing blood.  Lera only cried a few minutes after it happened, the rest of the time she was extremely composed and brave.


Thankfully, we got to watch cartoons, and the girls got crackers and juice.


Changing positions.  We had to wait in between applications of numbling gel to Lera's wound.  Although the ER wasn't busy, we were there for about three hours.  And interestingly, I counted 10 people that I talked to while we were there.  Crazy.


Lera was completely fine while getting stitched up.  She had a couple of suckers (I stuck those in my purse on the way out the door, too) and the TV to keep her entertained.


Chess took this picture.  I think I am telling Lera to hold still.  She is such a wiggly little thing.  Do you like the Crocs over her footed PJ pants?  It was the best we could do in a hurry!


All done.  Just waiting around to fill out papers and talk to a couple more people.


She had one deep stitch, to pull the skin so it would lay even and flat, and 5 stitches up top.


Close-up!  She left them alone, we had them out five days later, and now she is healing very nicely.  Now, I hope to never see the inside of an ER again.