First Stitches.

I knew this day was coming. I just knew that one day, I'd be out with Ryan and I'd have to figure out if my poor sweet boy would need stitches. I know that "they" tell you not to react...not to become emotional...to be strong...blah blah blah. I knew all of this. But I still cried...and totally became an incompetent mother. You would have thought I had no first aid training (not that I have a strong stomach or anything but I have taken a few classes in my life).

Anyway - we were playing at a park - in an area that we don't normally play - around equipment that we don't normally play on. And accidents happen. And they seem to happen in a split second but that split second seems to go on in slow motion.

And that's what happened today. Before anyone could stop him, Ryan darted out behind a swing and got clocked by basically a sled on a chain - with an almost 30 lb kid swinging on it. Ryan went flying at least 10 feet (okay - I exaggerate but still - it was at least 3-4 feet) and I screamed. I felt like flash gordon in grandma's lift shoes. I swear I saw a tooth go flying (I didn't - it was a sunflower seed) - Ryan was crying - the mom that was pushing the swing felt horrible (totally not her fault) - and I tried to stay strong.

I did pretty good for oh, about 5 minutes. I'm so incredibly thankful for my friends Julie and Laura...without them, I'm sure I would have just stood in the park screaming for help.

It wasn't *that* bad. Ryan is a trooper and the cut itself was on his forehead and less than an inch long. I called my husband to come help (more for my own moral support than anything) and called the pedi's office. Ran home to let Ryan go potty (oh - did I mention our potty-trained almost 3 year old??? That's another post) and grab a quick lunch for him before we headed out to the doctor.

Our pedi wasn't in but we saw Dr. Wong (who coincidentally was the first doctor to ever examine Ryan - as he was on call at the hospital when Ryan was born). Let me tell you that I liked Dr. Wong so much that I am seriously considering changing pediatricians ... which is saying a TON because we really love Dr. Grattendick! Anyway - I digress. Dr. Wong decided that he needed stitches (my worst nightmare) and took us to another exam room.

Now my own stitches experience made me faint....I thought I was going to loose it the night that E and I took Ryan to the ER when he split the back of his head open....and now here I was: the sole parent getting ready to possibly hold my son down while they stitch up his head.

Would you believe that my rockstar...sweet-as-pie...tough-as-nails loverboy DID.NOT.CRY.A.TEAR while getting his stitches. He was laid on the table while I sat next to him and we looked at a Sesame Street book (AWESOME idea, btw). Dr. Wong was awesome with him....numbed the area and told Ryan that he was going to fix his boo-boo. I seriously thought I was going to cry or throw up or something but I have to admit that if I was proud of Ryan for not crying, I was even more proud of myself for not crying.

We were told to keep his bandage/wound dry for 2-3 days and come back in a week to get the stitches out.

We went home and he took a short nap and I went upstairs and cried and cried and cried. I just couldn't get the image of this death-trap of a swing hurling his little body 100 feet to the side (yes - I exaggerate the more I tell the story).

All in all a traumatic day. And because I'm morbid, here's a picture about 3 days after the stitches.