Flashback Friday ~ Livia's Stitches

Once upon a time, there was an active, happy little toddler who LOVED to run...
One day though, not too awfully long ago, found out that running inside isn't always all that fun...

My daughter, the future track star, may be on her way to slowing down after getting her first (and hopefully LAST) stitches! Just a little more than a month ago, we were at Nana & Papaw's on a Sunday night. It was a little late for Liv, and she was doing anything she could to stay awake. That included running back & forth in the living room - which she thought was great until...

CRASH!!

It was the "bonk" heard 'round the world - or at least in my little world. The second I heard it, I knew it was bad. I didn't know how bad though, until I ran in to see about her. My Mom had already picked her up from behind... and all I saw at first was blood! Gaa!

I immediately called Perry and told him what had happened - that Livia was running and tripped over the little rocking chair... and crashed head-first into the toy box. I had no clue if we needed to go to the hospital or just to put a band-aid on. Luckily (or unluckily) my husband is the stitch expert - he's only had them a dozen times or so! He said to bring her on home, and he'd take a look to see what we needed to do.

I put some antiseptic & a band-aid over the wound, and quickly drove home. Livia even fell asleep on the way... As soon as we arrived though, Perry carried her in to take a look at the damage - one look was all he needed. "Stitch City!" said my husband, and we were off to the ER!

So, wanna see what he saw...? Be warned - it's a little rough!

This is after she was all numbed up. We were so nervous about the aspect of her getting who-knows-how-many shots of whatever-it-is to numb her, but luckily our nervousness was unfounded. They had some type of gooey substance we held on her head with gauze - and after 20-25 minutes it definitely did the trick! She was even singing and talking before they came back in to stitch her up.

Now, my sister had called the ER ahead of our arrival - she told us who Liv would see, and gave them a heads-up that a toddler needing stitches was on the way in. I told Livia that these were her Aunt Laura's friends, and they were going to make her all better! She was afraid, but I could see the trust in her eyes - Mommy was saying she was going to be just fine, so it must be so.

Inside, I was just about as scared as she was, but I guess Mommy-Mode totally kicked in. They had to wrap her up to trap her arms... They had one gentleman holding her head... And they had a handkerchief-size cloth with a hole about the size of a softball in the middle. They held the cloth over Liv's head so she couldn't at all see what was going on! I was underneath the cloth with her - smiling and singing the whole time!

She only whimpered one time, when the cloth slipped over a bit too far and she got a glance at the scary tools they were using. I just sang "Jesus Loves Me" (her favorite) and she forgot all about what was going on with her head. I could even see her little lips moving to the words of the song, so I knew I was doing a good job of keeping her calm.

Before we knew it, it was all over! And Livia had 7 stitches!!! The ER staff said that without a doubt, Liv was the best 2-year-old they'd ever had there. I always knew she was a good little girl!

So, here's what she looked like the next day:

Not too bad, really!

And by the end of the week...

The stitches were ready to come out...!

And here she is the day after the stitches were taken out...
I don't think she'll have any long-term emotional effects from the ordeal!

And in fact, she may barely even have a scar...

But her Mommy will sure never forget this scare!