WARNING!!! THIS POST MAY NOT BE FOR THE FAINT OF HEART!!
Last Saturday I took my 3-year-old, Paityn to her best friend's birthday party. Paityn had been talking about this party for MONTHS...I kid you not! Anyway, we were driving there, and the whole ride Paityn was saying, "we're going to be late, we're going to be late", and of course we were one of the first to arrive.
As we were walking up to the front door of the condo (where Paityn's friend lives), Paityn tripped and fell directly into the corner of the cement building. She started crying, but not in hysterics or anything - it was just your every day little kid cry. So I picked her up and said, "you're okay. Let me see your ouchie". I looked at her face and noticed a little blood dripping down her cheek. I took off her hat and blood was E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E!!!! I was staring straight into this deep pointy hole in her head that looked like it went way too far down to be considered a surface wound, and the blood that just kept pouring out of it. It wasn't a big wound...just deep...and scary. I started to panic internally, trying not to let Paityn smell my fear. I started knocking on the door of the condo pleading for the security guy to let us in because I couldn't concentrate enough to dial the buzzer and was holding my hand on the side of Paityn's head to keep the blood from gushing even more. The security guy finally let me in and gave me a box of tissues per my request. I told Paityn we were going to go up to the party and drop off the gift and then we had to go to the hospital. Only THEN did she start screaming in hysterics..."NO, NO, NO!!!!!! I'm fine!!!!! I just want to go to the party!! See, look at me - I'm all better!!" Yes, I could see from the continuous blood streaming down your cheek that you looked MUCH better, dear Paityn (note sarcasm)... Anyway, we went up to the party, gave the gift to her friend and there just so happened to be a mom there who was a nurse. She confirmed my inclination to take her to the hospital. In order to get Paityn to leave the party (she was literally acting fine and not even crying at this point, except when I said let's go...then she started crying...), I promised her that we would come back after. At that point, I was already feeling guilty about this promise that would likely be broken. Paityn got to take a balloon from the party with her to the hospital, which made her feel at least a tiny bit better.
Off we went to Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto. We got there and I have to say that I was incredibly impressed!! We had absolutely NO wait and all of the receptionists, doctors, nurses, etc. were amazing and SO wonderful with Paityn! Coming from California, it was an added bonus for me not to be charged a cent and receive such great care! Gotta love public healthcare!
The doctor looked at Paityn's ouchie and decided she needed some glue as opposed to real stitches. Relief (kind of)! They put on a bit of cream to freeze the area and left us alone in the room for 20 minutes to let the freezing set in. The doctor gave Paityn some crayons and a Dora coloring book to keep her occupied. My mom, who had driven down to help (mostly to support me in case I happen to faint...my hubby was at home with our youngest at the time), went to the gift shop and got Paityn a cute little watch and a My Little Pony toy. We told Paityn that we were having our own party in the hospital, which made her pretty excited.
After the twenty minutes were up, the doctors came back in the room - three of them this time. Paityn looked up at them and said, "Why are there three of you here with two gloves each?". They all just laughed and said that she's a smart girl (of course, I agree ;) ). They glued up her ouchie and told us to wait for the discharge instructions. Paityn was still asking to go back to the party, so my Mom waited for the doctors to come back while I rushed Paityn back to the party.
We got back just as the party was ending, but Paityn didn't care because in her mind she was back at the party and there were still a few kids there to play with. They saved her a piece of cake and some pizza. I noticed as she was eating the cake, that she still had the 'I cannot eat or drink' sticker on that they gave her at the hospital - how ironic #1! Paityn also got to help her friend open presents. She was very excited to give her friend the present she had bought - a Dora doctor kit - how ironic #2! That's the last time I buy a doctor kit for a kid for their birthday.
We headed home and let Paityn rest for the remainder of the weekend. We did go out to dinner and had some weekend fun, but made sure to follow the discharge instructions that the doctor gave us. Paityn was happy that she got to watch Frozen for the bagillionth time.
I somewhat reluctantly dropped Paityn off at Preschool on Monday. I debated whether this was the smart thing to do, since the last thing I wanted was for those bandaids to be ripped off her face by another kid, but school seemed a little more safe than being at home with her overly aggressive but very sweet 17 month old sister. The conversation between Paityn and her friend at school when I dropped her off made me laugh...
P: I fell into a building and got a really bad ouchie - see (pointing at ouchie)! There was a lot of blood.
Friend: Was it red? (while trying to touch her ouchie)
P: Yes. But it's okay because I got to have my own party at the hospital and I was the only one in the whole hospital who had a balloon.
I swear, sometimes she seems like she's twenty-three and not just three ;)
So that was our eventful weekend! I'm pretty sure this experience traumatized me way more than it did her. My hubby is calling me very overprotective now. I get visions in my head of her falling and hurting herself again...must stop!!! Kids will be kids! Hopefully this weekend when we go to another of Paityn's friend's birthday parties it will be less 'exciting'!
