Stitches

Almost a week ago my poor little baby girl was playing on the couch and hit her face on the armrest...biting almost all the way through her lip.

After cleaning it I made the choice to take her to the ER because at least the inside would need some stitches.

When we got there, the waiting room was full, which is how it remained the entire time we were there.  After she took a nap for almost two hours while sitting there she felt much better.  Every once in a while she'd cry and say that her lip hurt, but it had stopped bleeding and started to scab in the front.

After about a 6 hour wait we finally got a room. We had almost gone home since it was healing itself, but I'm glad we didn't.  He said what I thought, that she would need some stitches.  She ended up with four on the inside and two on the outside.  He said the two on the outside were more cosmetic because it had stopped bleeding but he didn't want it to scar funny.

Man, was it hard to watch.  Since she's a toddler, they had to treat her like vets do cats and wrap a towel around her so she won't reach for her face.  After he washed it, causing the scab on the front to come off, he numbed it....which I hear burns (I don't recall ever having any) so she was not a happy camper.  She just cried while he stitched it and kept saying "I done" and "I not ok"

After they were done, they gave her a popsicle and she regained her pep.  By time we got her prescription for antibiotics and left it was 1AM (we got there at 4:30) but she walked out on her own fairly happy....just with a fat lip.

Yesterday was the day that her stitches could come out.  We went and she did pretty well, but I was a little frustrated because the doctor wouldn't take them all out.  The inside ones are dissolvable but the ER doctor had said that if they were still in when we took the others out we could just get them out too, but her doctor wouldn't listen and wouldn't take them out.  I don't trust dissolvable stitches because (TMI warning) I had to have stitches after Hailey was born and they were supposed to be dissolvable but after several came out a while after they were supposed to, one wouldn't come out.  I was told they should all be out by now and one was stuck.  Matt eventually pulled it out for me and man did it hurt!

I'm also afraid that she'll have a bad scar.  I know that sounds bad of me to say, and if she does have one it won't be a huge deal, but when I think about how kids are nowadays (I watched that movie Bully and MAN! I knew they were bad but come on) and since it's right on her mouth people will notice and I don't want her to get teased.  I mean, like I said if there is one, then it's fine and if she gets teased we deal with it then, but I figure if I can make it fade, why not?  Really not trying to sound superficial.

One thing I was happy about is that the experience didn't bar her from playing.  Sometimes when you get hurt from doing something, you get nervous to do it again for a while.  But she was right back playing.  She likes to stand on the arm of the couch and jump to one of us, and she was back up there the next day.  The only thing that concerned her was getting her dressed. "Don't hurt my ouchie!"

She was sooo happy to get them out.  As we left the doctor she goes "thank you for taking me to get my stitches out."

So my brave little girl got her first...and hopefully but not too hopeful if she's like her dad...stitches.

I took some pictures but they are kind of hard to tell.  Matt may have better ones, but he's asleep haha.

 

 

 

 

 

~Hyuu!