Parental Rite of Passage: Trip to the ER - Completed

If you asked me which of my children was most likely to end up in the ER, it would - hands down - be Helen. She is constantly stretching the limits of her little body trying to do what Connor does, and this is often completely frightening to watch - and impossible to halt. In fact, when I called my parents last night and told them I had been to the ER, both guessed it was with Helen.

But I was wrong. Yesterday, we went on a bowling outing arranged by a mom's group I'm part of. I took Helen and Connor there, got Connor set up, and then Ed arrived. I went to the snack bar to get Connor and Helen a treat (mostly because I needed a good distraction for Helen since this is one of few activities that I really think even she couldn't figure out a way to participate in). While I was at the concession stand, I heard a very terrible scream. In my head, I said "Wow, I'm glad I don't have a kid that screams like that" assuming it was some child protesting leaving the alley. But then my friend Laurie rushed up to me and said "Elaine - get some ice, that was Connor!" and I was totally stunned, and then I saw Ed carrying little dude, blood everywhere. It took a moment to get it washed up enough to see what was going on, but as has been pieced together for me, Connor picked up his very heavy ball, and then tripped. But because his hands were full of bowling ball, he couldn't use them to break his fall, and so his chin caught the edge of the alley with a fair amount of force.

It actually stopped bleeding pretty quickly, but as soon as the physician's assistant at the ER saw it, she proclaimed he'd be needing stitches. I asked about a magic glue solution another mom told me about, but his cut was apparently way beyond the wonder of this stuff. As it turns out, he needed six stitches. He was an absolute champ, only letting us all know after four stitches "I'm all done now. I'm ready to go home.".

The PA thought I had a career in medicine because I was so calm as I held Connor. She told me children only do as well as their moms. She then asked if I'd been through this a lot and I told her "no", Connor's never been in the hospital except to have blood drawn. He wasn't even born in one. She said "wow, that must have been awesome. I think it's the reason you're so calm. Seeing blood must not bother you at all." And that's just another reason to be a home birther (though I don't believe it myself at all, I think I'm just a calm person when I know I need to be).

Elaine