Our wounded warrior

Considering that we have three kids, we've actually been pretty fortunate when it comes to serious injuries. In fact, we have eight "kid years" (4 Asher + 3 Lydia + 1 Caleb) logged without any broken bones or stitches.

All that came to an end this morning, however, as Matt, Caleb, and I spent the morning in urgent care at the hospital in Rhinelander. I had come upstairs after getting dressed to find Matt, Grandma Jewell, and Caleb in the bathroom putting gauze on Caleb's forehead, with bloody kleenex on the bathroom counter. See, during breakfast, Caleb somehow managed to unhook the tray on his high chair, fall out, and land on the tray, gashing his forehead. Matt said it happened so fast, there wasn't even time to say, "Oh, Caleb!"

So, we went to urgent care at the hospital, where Caleb was quite genial and playful until we started trying to "fix" him. We had to put some topical anesthetic on him so they could put in stitches, then we had to wait for 20 minutes for it to numb the area. He really didn't like that! It was held to his forehead with a cottonball and some medical tape, and it was quite the feat to keep him from pulling it off. I was glad there were 2 of us there to take turns holding his arms down. Then, the doctor came in, we swaddled Caleb (which he hasn't done in MANY months) to keep him still, and they put in the 3 stitches he needed, during which he screamed bloody murder.

All in all, though, he did really well for being only 13 months old. After we were done, he was pretty happy, because he was finally able to get down and walk, and there was no longer a big buldge taped to his forehead.

So, we've successfully navigated our first trip to the emergency room for an injury. Unfortunately, with our kids, it's probably not the last!