Ainsley's ER Adventure

January 17, 2014

I should probably title this "Ainsley's First ER Adventure" since I feel like this may not be the last... :)

On Friday morning with what started as what I thought would be a pretty typical, slightly boring, day. I had just cleaned out a tote from the garage (one of the totes used from our Christmas flood adventure) and was taking it upstairs to Sydney's room to replace it with the cardboard toy box in her closet. It was 10am because I was JUST about to put Ainsley down for a nap. While I was upstairs I heard a thud and Ainsley cry bloody murder- a sincere hurt cry.  I came downstairs to find Ainsley crying face down between the fireplace and TV console. I didn't think she was badly hurt until she turned around and there was blood everywhere! Sydney was standing behind her so I had to assume her sister was the cause. I didn't have time to figure out at the moment as I was trying to get Ainsley's face to stop bleeding. I looked by the fireplace and her face had hit the sharp edge of the tile right before it transitions to carpet. (That really should be covered up.)  The blood was on the carpet and on the tile surrounding the edge. I noticed a deep cut that extended from her top lip to the bottom of her nose. My first thought was maybe we can shut this with Silver and a bandaid, unfortunately, the cut was way too wide, nor would Ainsley allow a bandaid to be on that part of her face.  I realized it definitely needed stitches. I had just agreed to let Sydney's friend (Lyla) from next door to play at our house that day, so I had to ask them to take the girls instead so I could run Ainsley to the Saratoga Springs InstaCare (because Eagle Mtn and Saratoga's nearest hospitals are AF and Timpanogos (30 min away each).)  But when the doctor saw her, he immediately said there was nothing they could do and I had to go to the ER.  Turns out, InstaCares won't touch such sensitive areas for stitches, especially on babies' faces.  And because she was so little, she wouldn't hold still for stitches without being put out.  SO, I then ran home, picked up Sydney, a change of clothes for me (because I had yet to shower),  and the gift we were taking to the wedding reception in Highland that night and took off. I dropped Syd off at my mom's and took Ainsley to the AF Hospital.  Lucky for us, there was no wait and practically no one there. The receptionist was cute because as we walked in the door she immediately told me, "Oh my gosh! Your baby is so beautiful even with her face all beat up like that!" :) That was nice.  They got us in no problem, and gave me two options of sedation: via shot or via I.V.  I first agreed to an I.V. but then felt better about the shot, even though they had to give her two.  The doctor was able to close her cut with 6 stitches. 6! That's a lot for such a small face. :(  The stitches extended from on TOP of her top lip to the bottom of her nose.  It was so hard for me to watch them sedate her and then stitch her poor face.  It honestly is different when it's your own child; if it were my sister or other baby the same age, it just is different when it's your own child.  Right after she got hurt, to calm her down I gave her a bottle, and as she tried drinking it she would pull it away from her mouth, look at me, and say, "owie."  Poor baby; broke my heart. :(

She was pretty funny coming out of sedation though.  It took her about an hour after they finished (took about a half hour to do the stitches).  Once she realized she was awake, she would try and lift herself up but couldn't. Then she tried to stand and couldn't again. She is so independent and rarely sits on my lap to begin with, that it frustrated her that she could get up on her own. It took another good half hour or more to get her feeling back. As we were leaving she wanted to walk. She could barely hold herself up, Miss La la Loopsy, so I picked her back up. Crazy baby. :) (I see a stubborn and independent future for her....like her mama...oh boy.)  Turns out, Sydney said she didn't "push" her, like I asked her and she denied.  She said she "spanked" her. ....Oh man. I don't know where she would get that since we don't hit or spank either of them. We had quite a talk with her later if you can imagine.

She's doing much better, but her poor battered face makes me sad. The ER Doctor said the stitches should dissolve in about a 5-7 days and complete heal within 6 months.  LOTS of sunscreen this summer and Silver. ;)

 

  

 A bath the next day made the stitches look better (washed some of the dried blood away) and made her feel a little better.

 

 A day later and doing much better! :)
The interesting thing was that right before I went upstairs to switch that tote, I had the thought, "I should take Ainsley up for her nap now so I won't have to come back down." I chose not too because my hands would be too full. That's when it happened. Throughout the day, I was thinking and it was such a slight thought it didn't seem like a "spiritual impression."  I decided that our Conscience is just another way of saying the "light of Christ" or "Spirit of Christ" that everyone is given (Moroni 7:16*).  Everyone has a conscience. Therefore, those that choose to ignore those good impressions soon don't have them. It was an interesting thought stream I had while sitting in the ER for Ainsley to wake up. The same thing happened when Kory jumped off the back of the truck and hurt his knee. So, basically, if you get ANY good thought it is from God, so just go with it. You may never know what you avoided for doing so, but you'll never go wrong if you do. ;) 
(*Note: The footnote by "Spirit of Christ" in the scripture takes you to "Conscience" in the Topical Guide.)