Following in Daddy's Footsteps...Straight to the ER

When Kelly and I first started dating I heard the many stories of the visits to the emergency room. This has always interested me because I have never been in the emergency room for myself. I have lived nearly 30 years without ever having a broken bone or needing a stitch (knock on wood). The stories of Kelly having been taken to the emergency room would probably out number a family of 10 stuntmen. I remember when we were dating I was worried how many times I would have to take him in our years being married (thankfully none so far...well for an injury). In the back of my mind I wondered if our children would inherit my luck or Kelly's...Well, we made it through nearly 4 years of being parents without having to visit the dreaded emergency room: that can no longer be said. Surprisingly, it wasn't our first born to make the first visit, but our second born, Kora. Hunter has always been fearless, but has always been quick on his feet. Kora has taken her cue from her older brother and walks on ledges, jumps off furniture and climbs up anything taller than her. She has taken her fair share of spills, and because she falls so often she rarely cries, and if she does you know she is really hurt. She has many bruises all over her body (all self inflicted) from the many times she has fallen. So, the story begins...

We went to visit Great-Grandpa and instead of staying home we decided to go to the park. After we had lunch, Hunter and Kora played on the playground. Kora was on the top step of the equipment and tripped over her own foot and fell face first down the first step. Since Kelly and I are used to her falls neither of us jumped up to see if she was ok (we always wait to see how she will react). She didn't get up and was crying, so I went over to her and picked her up. I always pick up first, then check for damage. Hunter told me Kora was bleeding and sure enough when I did my check she had a small gash on her left cheek right below her eye. Of course, I panic but Kelly calmly tells me it's alright. I go to the car and get our first aid kit and we bandage it up. She cried while we cleaned it up but once we were done, so was she. When we got back to Grandpa's house we put a new bandage on it and realized that she just may need to go to the emergency room. We were both hoping they would tell us that she was fine and just needed a butterfly bandage but didn't want her to develop a really bad scar that could have been prevented or looked better if we had taken her to the emergency room. We dropped Hunter and Mylie off at Nani and Grandpa's house and we were off to the emergency room. We actually went to Urgent Care...which is similar to the emergency room, but is for less severe injuries. We found out that they give priority to people with open wounds so after we took care of all the paperwork we were called in. I attempted to hold Kora but the nurse asked me to remove the band-aid we put on and as I was taking it off blood was spilling out. The nurse and I cleaned it up but I knew I couldn't hold her so I asked Kelly to do it when the doctor came in. The doctor told us that her wound was small and straight which meant they could use this stuff called dermabond. It's like superglue for skin. Fortunatly we didn't have to go through the agony of watching our daughter being sewn up. Because Kora is very strong and the doctor was worried Kora might get the glue in her eye if she struggled too much we decided to papoose her. As the nurse strapped her into this velcro papoose Kora is screaming for Daddy and telling the nurse to "Let Go!". The doctor puts the dermabond on her cut and the whole time she's screaming for her Daddy who is standing by her side holding her hand. She finally asks for her "Dee-Tee" so I give it to her and she calms down a bit while the doctor finishes. Once he is done we release her and she is instantly calmer and in my arms. The doctor said she will have a small scar and the glue he just applied will come off in a week or two.

Susie, I don't know how you did it. I know Kelly wasn't your only child to visit the emergency room. This is only my first visit (I'm praying it's the last but I'm also realistic) but it really does break your heart to see your child in pain. Even worse to see her so scared and having to wrap her up so she can't move and can't do anything about it. I'm so glad the day is over and we are home and she is safe and asleep. It really wasn't a stressful day, just heartbreaking. We did have an enjoyable visit with Grandpa and after we returned to pick up Hunter and Mylie we stayed and had an enjoyable evening with Grandpa & Nani. Kora was fine the rest of the night, she still played, she still ran, and she still attempted to climb things. Besides the evidence on her face you would have never guessed anything happened to her by the way she played.