Monday, June 8, 2009
Oh what a day!
I pulled Noah on the counter to give him a clean towel to try to stop the bleeding (or at least to catch it – it was coming out fast). Noah was screaming. I yelled to Roz ‘we have to go RIGHT NOW…get your shoes on NOW!’ She was hurrying to get her shoes & I ran into the next room & out of it again - unsure of what to do next. I decide that I’d better call Meghan (my sister in law & Lauryn’s mom) to tell her that we’re going to the ER. I also called my husband, Aaron, to tell him what’s going on (I am panicking at this point & out of breath because I was slightly hyperventilating). Neither one of them answered their phones, so I left frantic messages for them both (which in the end sounded like a lot of screaming with no real words). I yelled to Roz to find Noah a pair of shorts – any shorts (because all he had on was underwear). I assessed myself & decided to leave as is (black sweats/jammies) – we didn’t have time for me to change clothes, but at least I had a bra on. Lauryn was dressed but didn’t have any shoes on, so I grabbed her diaper bag & threw her shoes into it. I grabbed my purse & threw in the swim trunks that Roz found for Noah & a random T-shirt that I saw laying close by. I took Lauryn to the car & got her buckled, then had Roz run out there while I carried Noah out & got him buckled. I then ran back to the door & realized that I was locked out of the house! My keys, phone & purse were inside the house while we were outside. I screamed F***. I am crying & sweating too mind you – what with all the running & the panicking. I remembered that Jehu left for school from the front door & hoped that it was still unlocked. I ran for the front door, and thankfully it was unlocked! I ran in to get my bags & we were off. Remember that Noah was still screaming this whole time too.
While I was driving, I decided to call my husband &Meghan back to leave understandable messages with actual information in them (what ER I am going to, WHO was hurt etc). I talked to my husband who was uncharacteristically calm (thank GOD). I also asked Roz to get Lauryn’s shoes on her. I found the ER & went to park & there were NO parking spaces…*#$%@)#*#. I finally found one that was about a block away. I got out of the car & got Lauryn out first, then Roz & the bags & then Noah who was still only wearing undies. There was no way that I was going to be able to carry Lauryn & Noah & the bags, so I decide to have L walk since she at least had shoes. So there I was carrying Noah who is screaming, & the bags & trying to pull L as fast as she would go with Roz holding L’s other hand. That was not working, so I decided to try Noah walking with no shoes & carrying L, because he can go faster than she can. That works for all of 5 steps before Noah is just beside himself, so I grabbed him too – now holding L in one arm like a sack of potatoes & carrying Noah with my other arm & limping along dragging my purse behind me while Roz carried the other bag. All the while – Noah was screaming & I was sweating & crying at the same time as well as completely out of breath because of the panicking. While all of this was happening, I happened to look up & people were stopping & staring at us! Not helping us at all, but staring for sure! It must have been quite a sight!
I finally got through the doors & set everyone down.They wanted me to fill out a paper asking for his social security number…in exhaustion I said ‘oh my god – I don’t know that right now!’ Thankfully, the lady at the desk took pity on me asking for his name & birth date only. At the same time a very nice older man that worked there brought a wheel chair over – asking me to set my children in there. I was able to set Noah & Lauryn both in there. Then they wheeled us to the children’s ER. I recognized one of the nurses as a mom of one of the kids from Jehu’s baseball team last year (thank god!). They all helped me so much from there. Long story a little bit shorter, Lauryn & Roz were picked up within an hour, so I could focus on Noah. He had to be tied up for the stitches, which sucked, but was better than him moving around & getting a needle in his eye or something. We had a lot of tears throughout the rest of the day, but approximately 30 stitches later (internal & external) we came home.
I am hoping that we don’t ever have to do this day over again, but part of me expects that we will SOMETIME in the next 18 years. Hopefully, it’s not for a while though.