Sunday, May 25th, actually started out really well. I attended a Bridal and Baby shower from our Church, and was asked to say something about being a mother. It was fun. I talked about my kids and then showed a dvd that I had put together from pictures and music. The pictures were of our journey from being married to having three kids. I have had a lot of people come up to me saying how they liked my talk. I wanted to post the movie here but haven't figured out how yet because I did it in imovie. Mark thinks he knows what to do, so when we have time, I'll try again!
Monday things went down hill. Mom had taken the kids to the park, with Angela and my Gramma (who is visiting from Saskatchewan). It was nice that I could do some clean up without it being undone right aways. At arouund 11am Mom rushed into the house with Sophia. She had fallen on the slide and had a gash in her head on the top of her nose, between her eyes. We took her to s clinic but the doctor said that it was quite deep and she needed stiches. He put a band-aid over top, but she just started ripping it off. I had to hold her hands. She actually did amazing throught the whole thing. Didn't even cry that much. I'm sure I cried more through this week than she has. We were in the ER for six hours with her. Mom drove because I was not in the right frame of mind. They ended up having to put Sophia to sleep in order to work on her wound, she just would not hold still and then got so mad at being held down. She was given sleeping meds in juice. But it didn't really work, so they tried again. The second time she got heavy, but acted more drunk that sleepy! So they had to put in an IV to knock her out (by this time she was sleepy enough that they could put an IV in her), and then they decided to glue it shut, with something stronger then crazy glue. It was traumatic, but we were done and okay. We were home around 6 pm. I hated seeing such a hole in her head. And glad that I didn't have to look at it any more. It actually made me queasy to look at.
Tuesday, we were playing out in the back yard, and Sophia being a clumsy almost two year old, she fell and opened it up again. I quickly took her to another clinic were she was sent to the ER again. The clinic doctor didn't want to stitch it up because of how active Sophia was and that she didn't really let her touch it much. Before this doctor sent us to the ER she tried to put a bandage over it. I said I didn't want it, because we tried that the previous day and she just tried to pick it off and I was afraid of her making the wound bigger and worse. She wouldn't listen. I tried to explain that I was all by myself and could stop her from taking it off and drive at the same time, but she didn't seem to care. Finally I just had to walk out. Now thinking back on things, I should have asked her to come with me. I realize she didn't want it to get infected in the 5 minutes it took to get to the hospital, but I really felt like I didn't have a choice.
Enough about that! When we got to the hospital we had to wait along time again. This time there was a women who came in with Fiber Myalgia, who was in excruciating pain. It seems to go through cycles and when it got it's worst she would moan and scream and swear. I felt terrible for her and sorry for her husband, who didn't seem to know what to do, knowing there was really nothing he could do. It is really terrible how long you have to wait in emergency. I hope that it gets better at the new hospital! After a little while we met with one of the doctor would would be "our doctor" for the duration of our visit. He informed us that Sophia's wound had been open for too long, even though it had been closed in-between, and didn't know if he would be able to close it due to possible infection! What!!! What would we do with a clumsy one-and-a-half-year-old and an open would on her head until it healed? Then after it was healed a plastic surgeon would go back in, clean everything out and stitch her back up again. Crazy. So he called the plastic Surgeon who was on called, and we waited. Found out there was no one on call. Then he called the plastic Surgeon department at the Vancouver Children's Hospital. More waiting. I was wondering for a bit if they would send us out to the Children's Hospital. Finally we got word back that we could go ahead with the stitches and every thing should be fine. Then we waited again, for the actual procedure to happen. Once again she had to be put under. This time she handled the IV like a pro. I'm thinking that it was mostly due to the fact that she was hours past her bed time. The meds they gave her to fall "asleep" work really fast and it is almost eery how fast your child can go from crying to unconscious. They call it "conscious sedation". I had to leave for the actual procedure and they highly encouraged Mark to do the same. This doctor applied to sleeping meds differently. The first doctor put them in gently, and then she came out gently as if she was just waking up from a nap. Nice :) The second doctor put the meds in fast and then she woke up fast, moving and wiggling in my arms for a few minutes until it all calmed down. It was a little hard to hold on to her at times, but apparently it's safer. So I'm all for that. The first doctor didn't seem worried at all about putting her to "sleep", but I really liked her, very friendly. The second doctor gave us probably too much to be scared of. Not that it would happen, or has, but she could stop breathing for a tiny bit and need help. Yikes! I am SO glad that nothing went wrong and she came out A-Okay! Thank goodness that is done, again!
We got home just after midnight, meaning we were in the hospital for another 6 hours. We gave her a quick snack/supper, as she wasn't allowed to eat in the hospital, and sent her to bed. The next couple days I was so scared that she would open it up again. It is hard protecting a toddler from themself. The next days were also hard in the way that Ethan had missed me and just want to be held . . . by me . As well as Drew feeling terrified for Sophia and constantly in a state of worry. He was acting like he had been traumatized himself. He reverted in many ways and are still working on getting him back to "normal". Sophia is such a trooper. I think she handled this whole situation the best of everyone :) ! Drew seems to be a very sensitive person. Not in the ways you may think of when you hear the word sensitive, but is really affected by the small things (okay this was big for us, but other times aren't ) and even more affected by the big things. I wish there was a trick to help him out of this to better behaviour, but there isn't. It takes time. During the two weeks following this situation he often told me he was sad or mad or frustrated but didn't know why. I was starting to worry that he was getting depressed, but can see him pulling out slowly. Some days are good and some aren't so good, but all in all I think they are getting better. Here's to seeing the light again . . .
A week and a half ago we went to get her stitches out. She and the doctor did amazingly well. I told him of her time in the hospital and having to be put under. He thanked me. At first jokingly, but then serious, so he knew what he was working with. And he did a great job, complete with making funny sounds to distract Sophia. And she did great too! Didn't cry once! She is healing up really well. Thank you, God!
Well, I better end this now as it's already very long. I hope that you all have a great day, and I'll have to catch up on other things later. Goodnight!
Love Andrea
PS - Sophia has just learn't how to climb out of her crib! OH OH!
