Veda's First Big Boo Boo

A couple of weeks ago Little Miss had a playground accident. The offending piece of equipment was one of those things with bars that two kids cans can stand on... It turns around... It was green.... Clear as mud? Anyway, I had thought that she could lose her grip and fall backwards, but I wasn't worried since it wasn't too far to fall and there's recycled rubber mulch at this plaground. It never occurred to me that she could fall straight down when the thing spins around (come on physics, really?). But that's what she did. As I saw it happening, I knew it was going to be bad, so I scooped her up, grabbed Linus (who very considerately left the playground with no crying, screaming, thrashing, or gnashing of teeth), and started carrying her/dragging Linus as fast as I could in the direction of home. Oh, did I say that we had walked to the park and I hadn't brought my cell phone? Well, of course. Every now and then I'd look at Veda's lip and feel my stomach flip over. It looked like there was a chunk of it missing. Oy.

In the time it took us to walk home, two cars passed us by. Passed us by while rubbernecking at a profusely bleeding/screaming small child. Sometimes I really hate people. Since I don't have a photo to document the occasion, here's a Crappy Pictures-inspired drawing, though I think mine is way Crappier.

After the slow-motion trek finally ended at our house, I deposited Linus with my sick day husband and put bloody little Veda in the car seat, bound for the ER at Children's. It was Friday the 13th, which is apparently a great time to have a head injury, so we had to wait a loooong time. In the meanwhile, the bleeding finally stopped. Here's a cell phone picture of the lip after it had been cleaned up. It's hard to tell from this photo, but that gash was like a little canyon. Oy.

In short, with the exception of the understandable wait, it was a good ER experience, as ER experiences go. For 30 minutes before she was stitched up, Veda and I engaged in a tango of me painting her lip with a numbing solution and her promptly licking it off. When it came time to do the actual stitching up, Veda couldn't have been a better patient. She lied on the table watching an episode of Dinosaur Train that played on an ipad held over her head. Three stitches later that she could totally see happening, she was still cool as a cucumber.

Phew.

Two weeks out, you'd never know anything happened unless you know what to look for. Our regular pediatrician says that she may have a scar, but as I see how it's healing, I doubt it.

Lessons I learned:

•  We're not going back to that playground until Veda has the gripping strength of Thor.
• Always take the cell phone. Always.

Now a couple of gory memorabilia pictures for you, Veda:

Here's the shirt you were wearing.

Here's the cardigan I had on, specifically the shoulder of the side I was holding you on.

The day after

And Linus, who also wanted to do pictures. Love that boy. He's a good brother.