2nd set of stitches

We had quite an exciting Tuesday evening. Aubrey ran into the corner of a wall at Grandpa and Grandma's house and put an inch-and-a-half-long gash in her head in the upper back left side. I wasn't sure what to do but called the doctor, not sure if it needed stitches or not. It didn't look too bad once we got her cleaned up but was still bleeding. Greg had just gotten home from work when the doctor's office called back and said to bring her in. It was the first night of soccer practice for Aubrey and Grant, and Greg is the coach, so I assured him I was ok, and that I could take her. I'd cleaned her up, after all, and had been able to handle that ok. I left him to finish up dinner, feed the other three kids, and take them all to soccer while I drove Aubrey to the doctor.

Aubrey cried all the way there, not because she was in pain (she'd been pretty calm, even playing outside while we waited to hear from the doctor) but because she didn't want to be late to practice. It was decided, once we got there, that she did indeed need stitches. Aubrey became very upset and a little hysterical. I distracted her with a game on my phone while they cleaned her up and prepped her head. That worked for a bit, until they started injecting the numbing medicine over and over all the way around the wound, and then she really started freaking out, screaming and crying. "I can't take it anymore!" I was leaning over her, holding her hand, trying to calm her down, and right when my daughter needed me most, I looked over at the needle...and fainted. I slumped over Aubrey on the table and then slowly slid down to the floor where I blacked out. Such.bad.timing. As the world gradually came back into focus, I could hear Aubrey crying and trying to answer the doctor's repeated question of, "Sharp or dull? Sharp or dull?" (testing to see if she was numbed up yet) and the medial assistant asking if I was ok. "I'm ok. I'm ok. I'm so sorry. Aubrey, it's gonna be ok!" I was so embarrassed and felt bad that I wimped out on them, but I was a useless heap on the floor. Poor Aubrey! I reached up and tried to pat her foot and reassure her that she and I both were ok. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Aubrey's answer changed from "sharp" to "dull," and she started to calm down. I sent an S.O.S. text to Leah, the closest person to the doctor's office, and Eric arrived instead a few minutes later. I thought, "Well, if Aubrey can't have her daddy here, Uncle Eric is the next best thing!" :) She was pretty calm and all numbed up by the time he arrived, but at least she had someone to hold her hand and talk to her while they finished up the stitches. She ended up with four of them. By the time they were all done, I had gotten the feeling back in my arms and legs and felt good enough to drive. We didn't go to soccer practice. We went straight home.

So, now I know, for sure, that I just cannot be the one to take kids to the doctor for things like this. I'm no good in a medical emergency. It's a difficult truth to accept. I'm a mother of four, for goodness' sake! I should be able to take care of my kids when they're hurt. But I can't. I have no control over it, so it is what it is. Greg says it's my "kryptonite." I WISH this was my one and only weakness! That'd be nice. But it's not. It's just a very glaring, inconvenient one! This is the third time I've fainted at the doctor's office with the kids--once at the allergist with Kari and one other time at our current doctor's office with Joel.  At one point, while I was there with Aubrey, that same doctor poked his head in while Aubrey was getting stitched up, looked down and saw me on the floor, and said, "Oh, that's right. You have a problem with this, don't you?"  They were all very nice, but boy, was I embarrassed! They should only have to deal with one patient, not two!

I was able to use this story when I "opened" the service and did the welcome at church this morning. It was a week full of heartache with people grieving deaths and just some really tough stuff, so it was nice to have something lighthearted to share, even if it was a little embarrassing to share this weakness of mine. I talked about how it reminded me that I can't do it all, that I'm not able to. We all need Jesus, and we need His people, the body of Christ. We can't do this life on our own.

Now to figure out who is going to go with Aubrey when she needs her stitches out...


She picked out a bandana at REI to wear in her hair. She wasn't supposed to wash her hair or even brush the side with stitches for two days, so we were trying to think of ways to protect her head and make her cute at the same time. The bandana was Aunt Leah' suggestion, and Aubrey liked it.