Frankenlyla

It was a pretty low-key day in the Laxton household.  I barely got dressed.  Lyla and I spent most of the dark, cold January day watching cartoons.  It was a nice relaxing day.   About 4pm, Lyla got down off my bed, where we were snuggled up.  She was walking around the room for a few minutes and then it happened.  I heard a thud.  There was no immediate screaming but I jumped up anyways.  When I got up I saw her face down near the edge of the dresser.  By the time I got to her, the cries started and they were fierce.  My stomach dropped in the moment I turned her over because I feared the worst.  One look at her and I thought, "it's happening".  Our first major injury.  There was a gash over her right eye, just above the eyebrow.  It was bleeding, heavily.  I couldn't really see how big the gash was so I ran her into the bathroom and starting wiping the blood and putting pressure on it.  Amazing by this time she had stopped crying.  It didn't bleed long but when I saw the damage I knew that no ordinary bandage would fix this.  I called Eric, who was on his way to the driving range (it was a crazy warm day in January).  I told him to meet me at Silver Cross Hospital ER because Lyla "split her head open".  I knew I had exaggerated so I quickly said "ok, no, she has a smallish cut on her head".

As I arrived at the ER a few minutes later, it was basically empty other than a few people who thought they were dying from the flu.  There was no help desk so I walked around for what I thought was a few minutes while people just stared at me as I held on to an almost two year old with blood all over her face.  Finally someone told me where to go.  We had to wait a few minutes to be seen and by that time I was able to calm myself a bit.  But, when Eric walked through the doors, I let it all out and cried like a baby.  We sat in that ER room for the good part of the evening.  The doctor said she would definitely need one or two stitches.  Lovely.  After two numbing treatments we were finally ready.   I have to say Lyla was a trooper!  Other than repeatedly pushing the call button for the nurse, she was pretty well behaved.  When they were doing the stitches she did need to be held down by Eric and I (which was horrible) but who can blame a little kid for being scared.  She ended up getting 5 stitches.  Below are some scary pics.   I spent the next day crying my eyes out that my little girls face was ruined and she would never be the same.  I told Eric that was jinxed because everyone always talked about how pretty she was and that is why this happened.   I know, overreaction, but remember, I am hormonal.  Luckily, the stitches came out 5 days later and only left a small red mark which will not even be noticeable in a few months.

The before

The after.   The after is scarier.