Cole's First Trip

. . .to the ER. Is it sad that for every event in my life I think of how I can blog it the next day? Last night, Cole fell in his room and gashed his forehead on the handle of the air vent. I was in the other room when I heard a loud thud, then crying. It sounded like a shelf fell off the wall, but I knew there was nothing that heavy hanging in there. When I reached his room, he had a pretty good stream of blood pouring down in his face. That sight will always stop a mom's heart for a second.
I called Brett, who was at a friend's house, and he headed over. In the meantime, Cole calmed down after a bit, but it took longer for his sister to relax. Baylea, our resident worrywart, immediately broke out in tears and starting asking a million questions. Does he need stitches? Will he get a shot? Will the needle go into his brain?
Brett arrived and we decided he would stay home with the kids while I took Cole to get stitched up. Due to a bad experience when we took a two-week old Molly to the ER (another blog, another time), we are always worried that no one will believe us how an accident happened and child protective services will be involved. Isn't it sad how we have become afraid to seek emergency treatment for fear of having a child taken away? I know ER workers observe a lot of abusive situations, but it's unfortunate that non-abusive parents actually have to debate whether to take a child in or not.
Anyway, we got to the ER at 11:30 last night. Cole was being so good. His final prognosis was 2cm laceration on forehead. He didn't get stitches, but they glued it together with Dermabond, which it kind of interesting. After putting a numbing gel on, they just held the wound shut and squirted this clear gel on an area about the size of a nickel, waited for two minutes, then applied a second coat. It stays on for 8-10 days, then wears off. We were out of the ER by 1:00, so I was very pleased. Things can happen in an instant, but I thank the Lord that Cole is okay.