Autumn’s First Stitches

Today at 3:35 I got a call on my cell phone and the Caller ID came up as “College” so I knew I needed to answer it.  It was the director calling to tell me that Autumn & her class were dancing around on the rug, and she tripped and got a rug burn on her chin.  The director said it wasn’t bleeding, but she just wanted me to know.

Mom called around 4:10 and said she was going to go pick up Autumn since she was in the area.  She said they would just keep Autumn while I went to Young Women’s so I could have some alone time to get stuff done before Young Women’s.  I told her about Autumn’s owie and told her to have Dad just look at it and see if it was bad or not.

I called Mom when I got off of work at 5:00 to see if Autumn’s chin was bad or not.  She said it wasn’t bad, but the more we talked she finally told me that they were going to the clinic so she could get some stitches.  I didn’t freak out and just told her I would meet them there.

I got there and expected to hear bloody murder screams, but it was quiet.  I found the room they were in and Dad was cleaning out the wound.  Autumn was all wrapped up in a sheet so she couldn’t thrash around.  Mom said I had just missed the bloody murder screaming by a few minutes.  Mom was holding her head and a nurse was holding her torso and legs.  They said she had been like a bucking bronco when Dad gave her the shots to numb the area.

Dad started sewing it up and we talked to her to distract her.  He had numbed the area, but she let out a loud yell so he must have hit a spot that wasn’t numb.

He ended up putting in 3 stitches.  She was crying and upset and kept saying she wanted to go home and that she wanted her Mama even though I was standing right there.  But, she didn’t freak out like I thought she would.  She actually handled it like any 5 year old would.

This is Sunshine, who was awesome at helping out.  She kept telling Autumn she was doing great and that she was such a big girl.  We LOVE Sunshine.

After they were all done Autumn got up and came right over to me.  I can’t think of a worse feeling in the world than seeing my Autumn Bottom hurt and not being able to do anything about it.  But, on the other hand it felt so good to know that I was able to comfort her.

After we snuggled for a minute, she went to look in the mirror at her sweet new stitches.  She also got pampered w/ candy, stickers, suckers, and a push up popsicle.  Dad let her pick where to go to dinner, and of course she picked McDonald’s.  She had fun running around after she ate.  I was so worried she would fall and bust her chin open again, but she didn’t.

I sent Sis. Lee a text and told her I wasn’t going to make it to the activity tonight b/c Autumn was still a little shaken up and wanted me to stay w/ her.  We came home and she wanted to just snuggle on the couch and watch a “kid’s show.”  The only thing on was Sponge Bob, so we watched that and then she wanted to go play w/ her dolls.

I had a hankerin’ for something sweet and Mom had bought a bag of Andes mints pieces.  So, I made Steve’s Out Of This World cookies and used the mint pieces instead of chocolate chips.  Pure heaven!

Hopefully this is the first, last, and only time that she’ll need them.  I only had to have stitches once when I was in high school.  We were doing a dress rehearsal for Taming of the Shrew and as I walked off stage, a guy holding a wooden stick turned around to say something and hit me right smack in the forehead.  I didn’t realize what had happened at first, b/c it happened so fast and shocked me.  I reached up to feel where I got hit and my fingers were covered in blood.  If I remember right, I only needed like 5 stitches, but it did bleed A LOT.  I went to the nurses station and she called Mom and Mom took me to the ER. 

Also, Dad was out of town and it seemed like all bad medical things happened while Dad was out of town.  I’m thankful Dad was in town for Autumn’s first stitches.    I am so thankful that Autumn Bottom is ok and that she had the best stitcher upper in the world do her stitches.  I hope her scar will heal well and not impact her modeling career.  LOL!