last night i went to my small group for the first time since the ladybug was born. it was also the first time hubby did bedtime with zoom since his shoulder surgery.
right - hubby had shoulder surgery. on his
labrum, not labium as i have often slipped. the recovery is 4 weeks in a sling and an additional 3 months sans full range of movement. kind of tough when your line of work can include swinging a hammer, typing on the computer and lifting heavy materials, and kids in the off hours. but the timing is right - we have carpenters, good insurance and it is zero degrees. we paid $15 for this $20,000 surgery, and he should be throwing a ball by summer!
so he has been a bit disabled, which is frustrating for him and means we can't share some of the duties we usually do (like bathing kids, changing diapers, helping kids get dressed)
so last nights outing was pretty significant.
until the fall.
Apparently zoom was standing on the changing table and fell - not off, but hit
his eye on the side of the table. He cried, but has a pretty high tolerance for pain, so didn't cry long. hubby grew concerned when the bleeding didn't slow down right away.
let's just pause right here and say
PTL i was not the solo parent at home for the accident. i need to practice on my reaction to stuff like this (and much more mild events as well). i know i would have been freaking out with all that blood and he would have cried
more.......
just the other week we were at playgroup and a couple of the kids found a dead mouse. i was holding the girl and totally overreacted while trying to get another parent to help me intercept the mouse that was being passed around. it was a reality check when the other parent calmly explained to his son that dead mice are cool, but can make us sick. it would be great to have that be my first response too....
anyhoo, ruling out calling 911 when the bleeding finally stopped, hubby determined that the wound would need stitches. That's when he started calling me, the one with the vehicle,
car seats and two working arms. i say "started" calling me because i have a problem hearing my phone.
while there was a time in my life when i resisted the technology of cell phones, i now see the beauty of having a phone in my hand rather than just at home. but, i have yet to find a good spot to keep it. i don't always have pants with a good pocket. sometimes i have a pocket, but the phone inches its way out. if i keep it in my purse, then it isn't necessarily with me. and the ring tone - it might not be loud enough, but i really don't want a ring tone that wakes up a sleeping child, stops conversation altogether or quiets the entire store i am in when it rings.
so dear hubby spent the next 30 minutes trying to reach me. He called/
texted everyone from our group whose number he had, looked up our location on my email, and found their home number on
dex online -all one-handed, with injured boy past bedtime. That is impressive.
We went to the ER where over the next 3 hours he got gelled (numbing),
washed, and stitched up. after our burn incident last summer i would have expected him to FREAK out when his wound was touched. and, considering how he hates doctor visits, i was shocked at what a
trooper he was! he answered the doctor's questions seriously, listened carefully, and waited patiently - stuff we rarely observe at home! We wish we had a recording of him during the stitches. he was laying on the table with towels around his head
(to keep the syringe of water from running into his ear), dad feeding him a
Popsicle (clearly the nurse who offered a
popsicle to a 2-year-old at 10PM was not remembering that we would be putting him to bed as soon as we got home!!!), doggy on his belly (both for comfort and to
"watch"), and asking for a song, while the nurse was stitching him up-we were holding back the laughter. It was after midnight before we checked out with a wired little boy (remember previously mentioned artificially colored and flavored
popsicle?). Thankfully,
claire didn't have her nightly screaming festival and we all slept pretty well.
This morning when he woke up he said, "oh - I fink
dere is
somefing on my eye" and started picking. Then he remembered what happened and
proceeded to tell me the detailed story. Later, getting dressed, he said, "be
verwe carweful wiff my stitches mom" Pretty cute. And at playgroup today, "oh, guys, I got stitches this last night"
maybe next time it will be my turn....
