No more monkeys!

Wednesday afternoon, I was bummed. I was frustrated that the refinery was down ... AGAIN! I was irritated that Allen wouldn't be able to take his four day weekend that he scheduled. I was mad at the world that he wouldn't be coming with us for our family mini-vacation to Legoland -- chosen by the kids. I was ready to cry, so I scheduled an afternoon pity party for myself. I talked to a few friends on the phone, had a wineball and an extra cup of coffee, and I read a book while I breathed deeply and the kids played upstairs.

Allen called me around four o'clock to say he would be late, and as wondered how I would explain his absence to the kids, I drank the last gulp of coffee and took another deep breath. I decided I should check on the kids again, but then I heard Will screaming. At times, Will can be so over-dramatic that I wasn't sure whether to expect a bone to be poking out his shoulder or whether he had a paper cut with a drop of blood. He was screaming bloody-murder and coming down the stairs quickly. I really was expecting something more like a paper cut, but there was blood all over his face and I had trouble figuring out where it was coming from. He screamed that he hit Maddie's bed (the metal part that holds the mattress up), and when I got a look at the cut on his forehead, a wave of nausea rolled through me as I realized a kiss and a band-aid wouldn't be fixing the problem.

My brain flipped through all the names of friends I might call for help with the other three kids, and I called a friend who lives nearby. She offered to come pick up Ben, Maddie, and Jon, and while we waited for her, I helped Will change out of the blue silky Mulan dress that was a bit too small. He held a towel to his head, I wiggled him out of the too-tight clothes, and helped him wiggle into some more masculine attire -- jeans and a dark red shirt (smart mama!) By the time Barbie arrived (about 4 minutes after I called her), I already called Allen, made sure I had the right insurance cards in my wallet, wiped up the blood trail on the tile (with Jon's help), got Will's and my shoes on, and closed and locked all the windows. I was practicing the deep breathing that I had needed earlier in the day to calm down, but I was still on the verge of being overwhelmed.

I took Will to the emergency room and they saw us rather quickly. The afternoon shift of nurses was different that the midnight crew I was used to seeing, but they still took good care of Will. The triage nurse said he was going to put on a band-aid, and I was a bit frustrated that I had panicked over something that just needed a band-aid when I thought it was much worse. It turned out to be a bandage with a cotton-ball soaked with lidocaine, but it took me ten minutes to realize that it must be bad if they start off numbing his head before they even checked his vitals. The doctor saw him, they put on another big bandage with much more pain-killer, and they explained that he would need stitches. Eventually, his head was numb enough for the big shot of a local anesthetic just before the sewing began. While the nurse and doctor were cleaning his wound, another doctor and nurse came in to see the deep cut. Will got one internal stitch and five external stitches. Though he claimed to have a headache, he didn't seem to be in too much pain after we got to the hospital. I showed him the picture of himself, and he chuckled saying, "Hey! I look like Frankenstein." More than anything, he was frustrated that he couldn't move his eyebrows when he talked.

We left the ER after 6:30, and headed to the Brown's for dinner and to get the others. Allen met us there, all seven kids ate then played while the four adults had a mostly-quiet dinner. It was great to have friends to call and I don't know how I'll ever thank them as much as I want to. It was a HUGE help that they took on three more kids, and fed us all, and did it all with out any notice. Now, things are more calm. Will's forehead is healing well, and he gets his stitches out on Tuesday.

As for what happened to cause the cut... I really don't know. He told me he was doing a somersault on the floor and ran into the bed. He told Allen he was doing a cart wheel. Jon said he was jumping on the bed, but Will argued that he was jumping off. He told his friend he was on the floor and trying to leap onto the bed, but missed. There are enough versions for me to know he was doing something he has been told not to do, but I don't know if he learned a lesson. Time will tell, I suppose... (I will continue  breathing deeply... sighing loudly... )