This is an old post that I wrote in December of 2011, but as I was messaging with a friend about her own kiddo’s stitches experience, it reminded me of this post and this crazy experience with my devil twins! Enjoy these cutie pies and appreciate how far cell phone photography has come in the last decade!!
So, we spent New Years Day at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (Scottish Rite) with Sydney to get 2-3 stitches to the side of her eye. We spent over an hour trying to decide if she would need stitches, and finally decided 1) she is a girl, 2) it is her face and 3) if we had to debate this long, we probably just need to take her! She was quite a trooper through the whole thing (which I’m sure had nothing to do with the Lortab and Versed they gave her!) She actually sang the Dora theme song (which was playing in the background) while they stitched her up.
Then, 10 months later, Eli decided to show her that “I can do anything better than you! Yes I can! Yes I can!” We got a frantic call from our babysitter that Eli had busted his head, was bleeding, and we needed to come home! Then, she hung up. For my nursing friends, apparently this is why SBAR is important! 🙂 I called her back, got a little more info, sent my neighbors over (who are the heroes of the night), and got home to find a little boy in great need of stitches. This time there was no debating it, his head was split open. When you make your nurse Mama nauseated, this is not a good sign! So, we drove to the same Children’s ER (we go there because 1) they have good drugs and aren’t scared to give them to kids which means 2) it is not traumatic at all.) Both kids got stitches with no tears. And they were both done by plastic surgery residents! After seeing the plastics guy and the ER doc, Eli got 4 stitches on the inside, 10 stitches on top, and Dermabond for good measure! My poor, baby boy!! (On a side note, it was pretty neat that one of my nursing school BFFs is one of the night managers in the ER and was able to make sure the plastics guy came to see us before he left and she was our nurse. It is fun to have connections!)
After receiving our $2,200 bill for their outrageously priced amazing services at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, we are hoping 2012 will be a year without stitches or emergency room trips. It’s on our list of 2012 resolutions!
The Brooks Family 