Abby's "bo-bo"

Yeah, make sure you pronounce that right - it's not "boo boo," it's "bo-bo." That's how Megan has always said it and, all of a sudden, Abby started saying it. Kinda funny. Anyway, for those of you who haven't heard it yet, here's the long version of how today went at the Elliott house.

I was babysitting for Tate and Lexi today. Zac works half days on Wednesday, so he was here this morning. Which was a good thing - I got bottom braces yesterday and wasn't exactly feeling up to par.

One of Tate's favorite things to do is "build a house" with the couch cushions. It's generally a good thing to keep them occupied. Easy to clean up and a soft landing place. But today they decided to stand the cushions up and were getting a little rough. After Abby got tossed to the floor and started crying, we put a stop to the house building and put the cushions back. A little while later I was making lunch and saw, out of the corner of my eye, the big couch cushion going up in the air. In the split second that I was saying, "No more playing with the couch cushions..." Abby climbed on top of it right as Tate got under it and jumped up to 'throw' Abby off. My immediate reaction was to just pick her up, figuring she just "bonka-ed" her head, as she says. Then I heard Zac say, "Oh no!" and I saw the blood all over the right side of her face.

We took her into our bathroom and put her on the counter so we could clean her up. After wiping off the blood and trying to keep a wet cloth on her eyebrow, we got the bleeding to pretty much stop. We examined the cut - it was about as long as my pinky nail and about an 1/8" deep and wide. This being our first accident, we tried to figure out if the ER was necessary. One of those times you wish a grandma was closer...

We called Sarah White, Tate and Lexi's mom, but she was working and unable to answer. (She's a nurse, FYI). Then I called a friend from church who is also a nurse, but she wasn't home. (She called us back, but we were at the doctor's office by then - thanks, Mary!) So Zac called his Mom on my cell phone while he sent her pictures with his cell phone. She gave us the advice I was thinking - since the blood was pretty much stopped and it hadn't knocked her out, called the pediatrician's office. Of course, we didn't have a doctor here before today! I had e-mailed some ladies from church about doctor referrals, so I pulled up the e-mail and called the office. The nurse was super nice and told me to come on in and they would see her. Their main concern was her age - if she fought too hard about having it cleaned, we would have to go to the hospital so they could sedate her. (Enter prayers here!)






Zac stayed with Tate and Lexi, called Jake about what was going on, and Abby and I were off to the doctor. They took us right back and the doctor came in. He basically said that this was the "perfect accident." It was a linear cut, which meant it closed cleanly. And because it was still in her eyebrow (barely), it wasn't so close to her eye that they would have to sedate her.

The nurse cleaned the wound with a saline solution. This was the worst part because the water running down her face kinda freaked Abby out. I held her head against mine and it went pretty well, especially after the nurse promised her a sucker! :) The doctor came in and we decided to put a pillow (actually a roll of hospital chucks) under her neck to tilt her head back. Then I held a piece of gauze over her eye while the doctor glued her shut. Lots of pediatricians here are putting TVs in their ceilings - a blessing for this situation! Abby ate her sucker and watched Finding Nemo while Dr. Clayton glued her shut. I held her, although she only wiggled a few times. I was SO PROUD of her. She did amazingly well! The doctor said that he glue was a new kind they'd just started using because it dries a lot faster - and it did!

Overall, not as terrible of an experience as I thought it would be. If this is our worst accident (haha) I'll be happy. :) Hopefully the last one for awhile...