It was a Thursday night/Friday morning when Noah woke us up crying. It was not very late, maybe only 12:30 or 1 am. Keith actually woke first hearing Noah crying. I was obviously good and asleep that I didn't even hear him. Normally I am the one that hears him first. Keith walked in his room to Noah sitting on the floor crying. Noah mentioned that his head was "wet" so Keith felt the back of his head and knew instantly what he would find (it was obviously pitch black dark in there.) He picked him up and brought him to his room yelling that Noah was bleeding and to wake up. Talk about a bad way to wake up!!! We quickly realized the entire back of Noah's head was wet with blood. We couldn't quite see how bad the cut was but we knew we needed to head to the hospital either way. It's scary with head injuries because you never know how bad they could be. What could appear minor could be life changing and vise versa - what appears life changing may be nothing. We were not sure what to expect. The only thing we figure is he
We calmed Noah best we could as we both got ready to head out. We did not realize how cold it was outside (haha) and just about took Noah to the Jeep in his pjs and no socks. I don't even know if he had his jacket at the time. It also didn't help that I was applying pressure with a wet towel to the wound.
We quickly headed out best we could. Instantly called Papaw (my dad) to make sure we were doing what we needed to do. Papaw is the police officer/former medic in the family so he gets all of the medical calls. We said we were doing everything fine, slow down, take our time getting to the hospital. It was not worth a risk of having an accident to make things worse. He had just taken something to help him sleep and he had to be at work early the next day. He said what I figured he would say and that was Nina was on her way to meet us.
We called Gigi and Granddanny to let them know where we were headed. We laugh now but they originally thought we were headed to the hospital for me and Baby Liam. We didn't know that THAT phone call would come just a couple of weeks later - LOL! They told us to keep them posted on what was going on but they kept checking in with us because neither of them could obviously go back to sleep.
I was dreading a full waiting room and hours of just sitting with Noah and a bleeding head. Keith kept prompting me to talk about how bad his head injury was so that they would take us back immediately. I kept thinking they would notice it with all of the blood! Keith dropped Noah and I off at the front door of the ER and I was shocked to find not one person waiting in the ER waiting room. I have no clue how we got that fortunate!! When I questioned it the nurses even told me to "SHHHH" (laughing of course!) They never have nights like that. So, we were taken immediately back and examined.
The sweet triage nurse too his vitals, looked at the wound and assured us it was not as bad as we thought but would require a few stitches. She bandaged his little head and sent us back to an actual room. This is where the waiting came!! We didn't realize at the time that the waiting was to help a deadening medication sink into the wound so they could stitch him. It's the little things you obviously don't think about.
After waiting a long while, the doctor came in to see us. He assured us the same as the triage nurse but didn't think the medication had worked on his head. It had fortunately stopped bleeding so he could actually see the wound. He had the nurse apply another round of medication to the head and we waited some more. We knew we did not want them to have to inject a shot in his head to deaden it.
Let me just say that I was not prepared for the stitches part. Hearing Noah scream was the worst ever! It was worse then when he broke his arm!!! They had to put him in this blue papoose thing that pretty much restrained him. Houdini figured out how to wiggle his arms out go figure. A male nurse walking down the hall heard the screams and came to back up. He pretty much laid across Noah (without hurting him obviously) to help hold him down. This preggo mommy held it together but MAN!! I think it did freak the nurse a little when she figured out I was almost 31 weeks pregnant.
We received 3 stitches in our head with instruction to follow up in 5-7 days with our pediatrician to have them removed. It was a rough week of keeping his head clean and dry but we managed!
We got back home about 5:30 am and we were beyond exhausted. Keith and Noah both took naps but I was wired. I did not let Noah out of my sight at all that day!
We had tickets to Monster Jam that night and we were so excited to go but questioned if it was still a good idea. Poor baby was so excited about it also so we decided to give it a try but let him make the call when he was ready to go. We made it just passed intermission when he said "I'm ready to go home. I've seen enough." He was beyond being a trooper! I was bummed we missed the best part of the show but I did not and could not push him to stay! Our Monster Jam experience did bring out a new phase in Noah. Now we own almost 20 monster trucks and we have several recorded on the DVR and he acts out Monster Jam with his own trucks. He even swapped his birthday party to Monster Jam.
We obviously have a few iPhone pics from our hospital experience. We couldn't let his experience pass down.
In triage getting our vitals and a little hospital gown
We called this our 'Superman" headband - with medication
The horrible blue board! Noah will not forget this board!!
Post stitches. Saline was used to flush the wound which made his hair look worse!
Can I say how bad his head smelled for a couple of days. The smell of blood reeks!!
Noah and Jake at Monster Jam. He was such a trooper in his cute monster truck shirt Mrs. Kim made.
He was also proudly wearing Papaw's headphones. (Looks like we will be asking Santa for a set this year!!)
You know, you always try to find a positive out of every situation - the ONLY positive we have found for our ER trip is the threat of the blue board. If Noah is doing something that might hurt him, we remind him of the blue board at the hospital and he stops what he is doing. Bless his heart, blood does freak him out now (guessing he won't be a doctor now!). Every time he hurts something, even as simple as stumping his toe or even cutting a hang nail from his finger, he freaks thinking he will have to go to the hospital if it bleeds. His exact words is "my bleeding stuff". Goodness! I wished I could take the pain for my baby but knew I couldn't.
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