Awesome Fall off of Tramp = 13 Stitches!!

Sunday after Girls Camp continued to be an emotional roller coaster! After dinner I was sitting in the living room resting my weary body, gearing up to prepare for family to come over to Finally celebrate Hannah's 12th Birthday. I remember seeing Beckham and Grace out on the Tramp, enjoying themselves and exerting some pent up energy. Shortly after my observation Isabel comes running into the house all in a panic, "Mom! Grace just fell off the Tramp and she's bleeding!!" I pointed to Brent and asked him to go check on her. In the mean time I was trying to calm Isabel down(and myself for that matter). I tried explaining to her that head wounds bleed A LOT. As I rounded the kitchen table to head outback I see Brent walking toward the house with Grace in one arm, and a huge towel pressed against her head. As I opened the door Brent quickly told me she was going to need stitches. Well, my heart sank. Brent and I quickly left the house, girls crying, almost in hysterics. I made a phone call to a friend to have her go over and calm them down.
I was privileged to sit next to Grace in the car on the way to the hospital. I always thought I did better with blood then broken bones. Ya, well, I was wrong. I do better with superficial head wounds, not gaping ones. As we pulled up to the hospital Brent instructed me to carry Grace into the hospital. I forcefully declined that request and told him that HE could carry her into the hospital and I would go and park the 'burb.
Luckily for us, it was a slow day at the Emergency room. We were there for a total of an hour. We got home just in time to quickly clean up the house for the arrival of our Birthday guests.


Grace's hair is in a high pony tail.  When we arrived at the hospital Grace's hair was down, bloody and getting in the way. The nurse insisted it be pulled up.  She grabbed a huge rubber band and did the best job she could.   You can also see Popsicle all over Grace's mouth.  That was her reward.  



The simple band aid on her head does a great job at hiding the hideous stitches behind.  It took a total of 13 to pull back together her flesh and skin. 



What the band aid doesn't tell you is that it took 1 papoose and 2 doctors to hold this baby girl down while the Dr. Stitched her up.  While the Dr. was stitching up underneath the skin he accidentally nicked a vein, hence all the blood in her hair.  There is an extra stitch inside making up the the Doc's mistake.  AWESOME!!!  I put Grace in a quick bath after arriving home. The bath water quickly turned a dark pink color, there was a lot of blood matted in that hair of hers. 



The Stitches.  Grace was a fighter.  I'm surprised the stitching job doesn't look worse.  The Doctor informed us that she can not get this wound sunburned for the first year or it will be bright red for the rest of her life.  Again, AWESOME!!  Grace as been sporting some kind of fun band aid for over a month now.  She realizes, as well as the other kids, how important it is to keep the wound covered.  We tried hats for a while and it's almost impossible for a 3 year old to keep a hat on.  So band aids it is.  If Grace is scared for life, at least it's high enough to be covered by strategically placed bangs.
In case you were wondering, No, she has not been on the tramp since the accident.  And neither has any of her siblings! 

Is there a lesson to be learned from all of this?  "I guess that's what you get for jumping on the Tramp on a Sunday", said the Brother-in-Law.  Ya, well, we'll see about that.