Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Ella Meets Hospital

You know hindsight and how it's always so smartassey?  Like duh, mom, you should have known that.  How dare you be overly confident in your children and think that safety measures are not cool.  Or necessary.  How many times has Ella gone up and down stairs in all situations- my house, grandma's house, sidewalks- and never had a problem?  A bazillion.  We put our safety gate up at the bottom so that I know when she motors to the play room cause I know I can't watch everything all at once.  99% of the time she'd be fine but it's safety first.  So why, when my mom asked, do we need to put the safety gate up, did I shrug and confidently say "nah, she'll be fine"?  Because it was my hindsight's turn to be smart, not mine.

It was 8:15 at grandma and bapa's dinner party and I was literally tensing the muscles in my legs to announce it was time to pack the kids up and head home when I 1) wondered where Ella was 2) heard a couple thump thumps and 3) heard Breckin shout "Ella just fell down the stairs".  Perfect.  Lightening struck and I don't know how I got from my chair on the deck to the bottom of the wooden staircase and I thought she was actually alright until I picked her up and realized the drool was not from the oreo she just ate, it was from her lip.  Damn head wounds bleed a lot.  A LOT. 

Grandma was smart enough to get a wet washcloth and we dabbed as best we could with a shreiking baby girl.  Enough to notice three tooth sized holes in the top of her lower lip and one small hole in the outside of the same lip.  I didn't see her fall, THANK GOD, so I had no idea what she hit or how.  I am not an urgent care specialist so we decided it was best to take her to one to find out if she bit through the whole lip.  Ick.  We left Breckin in the responsible hands of Bapa, Unca G, Auntie Heidi, and Uncle Jim and I never thought, before this day, that crew was the responsible one.  Just kidding, family.  ;) 

My mother drove while I sat in the back and dabbed her lip carefully.  She was not a happy camper.  My shirt was covered in blood as was hers and sometimes that's just what you need to get first in line at urgent care.  For her first visit to the real deal emergency peeps, it was a good one.  We had plenty of hands on deck, she got a Curious George picture, a new teddy bear, and a Maisy sticker.  The doctor was super cool and informed us she did not needs stitches, her cut wasn't all the way through- just on both sides, and she also cut that skin connecting your upper lip to your gums.  OUCH.  Leave it to my mom to say "well, that's one way to get botox lips."  Seriously. 

What is it, three days later?  Ella acts like nothing happened.  She is back to her binkies, eats like a champ, hasn't lost a minute of sleep, and was only clingy and fussy the day after.  No doubt her body hurt from however she fell but I can't find a bruise on her.  You better believe we are putting that baby gate up until she's twelve.