A Trip to the Emergency Room:(

Early Friday morning Reagan fell in the family room and on the way down she managed to hit her eye on the corner of our leather ottoman. Sarah and I were both within arms reach of her when it happened but it was one of those times where it felt like you were watching something in slow motion and just could not react fast enough.

I reached down and picked her up and as I began to lift her up, the blood just started to pour out. It was so bad that I could not tell where the blood was coming from. Her entire eye and face were drenched in blood. It was an ugly sight and I immediately flew into complete panic mode. My hands were shaking and I was screaming for Pat who was upstairs getting into the shower. Poor Sarah had never seen anything like this and started crying hysterically and yelling "Don't let her die Mommy". It was a bad scene to say the least.

Pat and I were trying to get the bleeding to stop, but we couldn't at first. It was not easy to apply pressure to the wound because Reagan was beside herself crying and carrying on and every time we touched her little face she flinched. We could see that the cut was right next to her eye, but there was a lot of blood in her actual eye and I was frightened that she might have done some damage to her eye and impaired her vision.

In a matter of minutes Pat and Sarah got dressed(they were still in their pjs) and we all headed to the Emergency Room. The cut had started to clot a little, but I could tell it was very deep and I had a sick feeling in my stomach about what she was going to endure once we arrived at the hospital.

The doctor examined the inside of her eye and checked her vision and luckily both appeared to be fine, but as soon as the doctor saw where the cut was located, he said he was probably going to try to use the glue method instead of stitches.

He changed his mind rather quickly once they tried to clean up and get a closer look at the wound. He said that it was too deep and he would have to close it with stitches. My heart sank....... How on earth are they going to stitch that close to her eye? and how are they going to keep her still?


Before they began the procedure, they suggested that Pat take Sarah out of the room and we agreed that it would be best. They warned me that as a mother it would be difficult to watch this and if I wanted to leave also, they would have a third nurse step in to hold her down. THERE WAS NO WAY I WAS LEAVING MY BABY in that room no matter how hard it was for me to watch, I was going to be right there with her every step of the way.

For those of you that have never experienced this, they wrapped Reagan in a sheet like a mummy with her arms at her sides so she could not move. They called it a papoose. Once they had her wrapped up, one nurse held her feet down while the second nurse held her head in place so the doctor could start to administer shots to numb the area and then begin suturing.

As you could imagine, this was not a pleasant experience for all involved. I think the nurses were concerned that I was going to pass out from all the blood that was still coming out of the wound, but that was not what was bothering me. It was the screams of terror coming from my daughter that had me upset. The tears were streaming down my face and I was trying to keep it together for Reagan's sake. I felt helpless and as though we were torturing her and there was nothing I could do to console her in this situation. I think the procedure took about twenty minutes from start to finish, but it felt like a lifetime and I think that anyone within a mile radius heard her.

I could not wait for them to release her out of that sheet so I could pick her up and hug her and let her know that she was okay and very safe in Mommy's arms again.

She eventually calmed down and we got our paperwork and headed home. We could see that the eye was already beginning to swell and turn black and blue.


Once we returned home, I could tell she was exhuasted and completely traumatized. She looked like the "old" Reagan. We cleaned her up, fed her some lunch, gave her some motrin for the pain, and then put her down for a nap.

When I changed her, I noticed her stomach was all scratched up and I was baffled for a moment.....then I realized that she must have scratched herself out of anger when they wrapped her up and held her down.

As soon as I got Reagan to sleep, I sat in my office with the door shut and had the ugly cry that I was trying to hold back all day. I needed to get it out.


About an hour later she woke up and it was as if nothing ever happened. She was back to her happy go lucky little self. Walking around, giggling, playing, and heading straight for her favorite place...... the steps:)

Isn't it amazing how resilient little ones are when it comes to situations like this? It blows my mind!

She was great the rest of the night. She ate dinner and played with Sarah right up until bedtime. Went down without a problem and is still sleeping as I type this.

I am anxious to see what her eye looks like today and pray that it will heal quickly and with minimal scarring.

Believe it or not, this was our first visit to the ER with one of our children. We have never had any kind of injuries with Nick, Sarah, or Reagan up until yesterday. I am sure it will not be our last vist because lets face it, kids are kids, but I hope it is a long time before we have to experience something like this again.

We are hoping to get out a little today! It is going to be almost 60 Degrees and I think we could all use a little fresh air.....and a play area with no furniture:)

PS... we bought a leather ottoman when we moved into this house to use as a coffee table thinking it would be a safe bet with little ones instead of something with sharp corners or edges. Apparently, even leather can do damage. She must have hit it at just the right angle.