Oh what a day!

I watch my 1 ½ year old niece, Lauryn, every Friday. Usually, our Fridays end up being pretty low key because of that. We hang out in our jammies & play. This Friday started out the same – breakfast, get Jehu off to school, play, etc. I was sitting on the couch watching the kids play & planning to paying the bills when the kids all took their naps. Noah and Roz played by the fireplace with their toys, while Lauryn was walking around finding little treasures along the way. That’s when Noah got up to move to Rozalyn’s other side, and tripped over her legs falling into the edge of the fireplace. I saw the whole thing & held my breath waiting to see how bad it was. Noah instantly started screaming & clutching his eye. I got up to see the damage & comfort him. When I saw his eye. I had a little gag reflex moment, and started to panic. This was no run of the mill fall; this was going to require stitches for sure! 

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.