Sorta.
It started out with a dance party in the living room.
It ended with one tired Midget with a matted mess of hair.
And everything in between? I'd love to share.
Around 8:40 am Ashley asked for dance music. She was jonesin to impress Aunt Shawna with her mad dancing skills. When I heard the familiar sound of head thumping the floor, I figured I was in for a tearful treat. It seems Ashley had danced herself right off of her own two feet and landed with a mighty thud on the floor. I rocked her, wiped away the tears and promised it would be alright. But when I went to wipe her hair away from her forehead, and I smeared blood on her face instead, I realized the thump was a little more than just a common head bump. Turns out she smacked her head on the wooden runner of my rocking chair; and split her melon in the process.
I was trying to keep the blood away from Ashley's line of site because I figured it would upset her, but it was tough considering she had warpaint all over her face and my hands were covered. I carried her into Shawna's room and sat her on the bathroom counter, set back and let Nurse Shawna take a peek. Official diagnosis? A small cut to the head, and everyone knows head wounds are bleeders.
Boy is that the truth.
I called Jake and had him come down from the shop and access the situation. Other than a few tears, Ashley seemed in good spirits. We gave her a dose of Tylenol and I had her sit on my lap while I applied pressure to the wound. After 30 minutes the bleeding seemed to stop, which I was grateful for. Ashley's hair was a matted mess; if you've never seen the site of blood in blonde hair, I hope you're spared.
Best 3 words to describe it: sticky. Matted. Messy.
It was bath time, so I tossed the mini's into the tub and took my gentle time washing out Ashley's hair. Even though I was a gentle as a church mouse, it started bleeding again. So again I applied pressure and waited for it to quit. I also double checked with her nurse to make sure her tetanus shot was up-to-date, and it was.
We had to drive into Salem to get my car and say bye bye to Shawna. I periodically checked Ashley's head to make sure all was okay. By this time it was noon. She had to use the restroom, and when I was helping her, I noticed her hair was getting matted again. I touched it and immediately had fresh blood on my hands. I again called the nurse and she told me to bring Ash in because she'd likely need glue to close up the laceration.
Unfortunately her regular pedi doesn't work on Wednesday, and when I found out she was seeing my least favorite doc of the group, I was apprehensive. But I must say the pedi was better than she has ever been in past encounters, and whether or not that was because she had a student with her, I don't know. Regardless of the reason, I'll take it.
After cleaning and examining the wound, I realized what I thought was a little cut, barley a 1/4 inch long was actually nearly 3/4 inch and quite wide.
Whoops. Mommy fail.
Turns out she'd need glue to close it up. About this time it was nearly 3 pm and Jake had to leave to take Natalie to her hearing test follow-up appointment across the street, so I was left with an upset and bleeding Midget. The doc came back to the room and said after further investigation it would appear that the glue wouldn't be the best for Ashley's situation, so she would need a stitch.
I can't be certain, but this may have been the exact moment my stomach fell to the floor with dread and doom.
Ashley has every reason to be apprehensive and cranky whenever anything medical happens. Between her asthma, croup, rotavirus and seizure she's been poked and propped more than any child I know. The thought of getting her to sit for a suture wasn't a pleasant one.
About .0006451 seconds after I forced her to lay on the bed so the nurse could sterilize her head, she started to lose it.
Big time.
Between the nurse and I we were able to get it cleaned and prepped. I was then given the task of holding the topical numbing ointment to the wound. I needed to hold a little wad of gauze on her head for at least 10 minutes. I also had to wear gloves so that my hands didn't end up numb, too.
Let me say here and now: Ashley's long hair is a blessing and a curse. Because it was wet from being cleaned and sterilized, it was sticking like mad to my gloves. Every time I budged I was pulling her hair. And because she was wiggling with upset and pain, there was a lot of hair pulling going down. And this needed to last for 10 minutes?
Not happening.
About 10 seconds into the 10 minutes, Ashely was donezo. Screaming. Crying. Having asthma. Generally ticked off and not willing to cooperate in the least.
And who can blame her?
The doc came back into the room and said she had just consulted with a fellow pediatrician and he suggested going old school with the 'braiding method'. Basically you take the small amount of hair around the wound and as tightly as possible, braid it which closes the gap and allows the laceration to heal. It's really a 'cowboy' method and is something you can do if ever you get a deep head gash while stranded in the woods. Funny thing is that when I had been talking with Angie about Ashley's injury earlier in the day, Ang said "You can braid it, which is something you'd do if you were in the woods. But we have modern medicine so take her in! Ha ha!"
Who knew a cut to the head would result in a lesson of survival skills?
The doc and I immediately began working on a braid, while the student entertained Ashley with glove balloons. I was shocked that Ashley held perfectly still while we fiddled with the best braid, best placement, best knots for her hair. About 15 minutes later we had a braid that had the cut closed, and the pedi was finishing off with knots similar to what you'd find on sutures. When the pedi said "What we need are those itty bitty hair bands that mom's use on little girls", I remembered I had stuck one in my pocket earlier in the day in the hopes I could convince Natty to let me do her hair. She didn't, which bugged me at the time, but turns out was the best for everyone. I pulled out that teeny tiny yellow band and the pedi looked at me like I was a freak. I even tried to crack a joke about always being prepared, but she just wasn't having it.
Too bad because I deserved gold stars.
Dang her.
She wrapped the band around the braid no less then 20 times and called it good. The pedi also commented how it'd be worthwhile to take all of her hair and put it into a big braid to protect the smaller braid from getting tangled up even more. My reaction? Reach in my pocket and pull out a regular-sized hairband and get to work. Again her with the 'you're a massive freak' look. And again me with the 'a good mommy is always prepared' wise-crack. And again no smiles, no laughter, no recognition.
Some people, I tell ya.
At this point Jake and I are charged with keeping Ashley's hair dry. This is going to be a battle as bath time is her favorite time. We had to bathe the girls separately this morning to prevent Natty from dumping a cup-full of water on Ashley's head. Doing her hair the next 4 mornings is going to be a bit of a challenge, but well worth it if she didn't need a stitch. I'm hopeful that I'll be able to get the little hairband and braid out of Ashley's hair and that it won't have to be snipped. I know it's small fries if it turns out we have to cut it, but I'd really like to avoid that as much as possible.
It's the vanity in me. So sue me.
This morning Ashley is fine and doesn't even complain of a headache. She's such a trouper even through all of the crap she's dealt with. Medically speaking, the last 13 months have been difficult. I can only hope and pray that this was the final chapter. And if not? Well then we'll square our shoulders and deal with it. It could be worse, that's for sure. To date there hasn't been anything we couldn't handle or that couldn't be smoothed over with ice cream. And I consider that a win.
Waiting for the doc to arrive
The best shot I could get of the braid this morning. Unfortunately I didn't ever get the chance to get a pic of just the laceration. I needed another set of hands in order for that to happen. I guess I left my second set in my other purse.
