When your kid gets hurt (even a little)

Well, we can check another item off The Girl's bucket list: get stitches.

The Girl decided about three weeks ago that at the ripe old age of 2.75, she no longer needed the bed rail on the side of her bed. For some reason, mommy reason lost and toddler reason won... partly because I do want to encourage her independance whenever I can... And not be too paranoid or worried about them getting hurt. You know - more forward thinking and relaxed than I was with my firstborn?

In any event she's been sleeping with a spare mattress on the floor next to her bed and a pillow tucked between her bedside table and the bed. Can't be too safe! She's fallen out a few times, hit the mattress, we put her back in bed and that's that. No biggie. So when we heard that familiar *whomp* and ensuing crying, we didn't panic or sprint upstairs. In fact The Hubs went and I even said (when the monitor got quiet for a second), "Ahh maybe she's fine."

Then I hear from her room, "Uhhh... can you bring in a towel??" A... what? Towel? Thinking she'd leaked through her diaper or something I casually get an old towel and wander into her room.

The Hubs shows me his hand. Covered in blood.

It took me a second to register it. I thought he cut himself. The Girl wasn't crying at all, so I was confused. Then he showed me the side of her head - hair all matted down with blood, pillow case stained. Wha...? The Hubs sees my face and reminds me, "Heads bleed a lot, remember." Right. Heads bleed.

We had to get her cleaned up to see where it was coming from. Slight panic as I fear it's coming from her ear and as she's wanting to go back to sleep I think for half a second, she's seriously hurt (rational thought is not my strong suit late at night). Get her in the bath to rinse her hair and it's a small gash, about 1", but deep. Might need stitches. But wow... all that blood from this little gash. Heads DO bleed a lot.

This is one of those moments where you have the internal parental battle with yourself. Do we get her dressed and drive all the way downtown to children's emergency where there will be kids who are *actually* really hurt or sick, and possibly wait a few hours, if she might not even need to go? But what if she does need a stitch? What if it gets infected? But it's not bleeding anymore. But man, it is gaping. What to do? (Meanwhile I'm thinking... there needs to be an app for this. Go/No Go)

We decide we'd be total loser parents if we didn't take her in, so get her dressed and in the car and away they go, The Hubs and The Girl, who by now is cheery and asking "Are we going to the doctor? Are you coming to the doctor too?". Oh but have to find the health card first, and figure out where to take her because we're not really sure. These aren't the details you tend to read up on before you need them. (Note to parents... it's a good idea to at least know where your children's emergency room is, you know, before you NEED that information.) We're lucky that she was relatively okay, I can't imagine trying to figure out these details if a child was seriously hurt!

In the end the docs did say it was good we brought her in (score one point for parents) and were able to give her a glue stitch. Total bonus (it's quicker, doesn't require shaving, and a lot less traumatic for the kids!). And now we know where the ER is and how to get there. Just in case. And in case anyone's wondering, The Girl was totally fine... happy as a clam, giggled at the docs, and bouncing around the house (literally... bouncing) at 6:30 am the next morning, despite being up until 1 am. This girl...