A Bump on the Head

I guess it is just a rite of passage, but it breaks my heart! Today, we went to Lowe's to check out new water heaters. We are needing to replace ours, but that's a whole 'nother story! ( just for you JSue ;) ) As we were leaving, we ran into some friends of ours from church that we haven't seen in quite a while, so we stopped to visit. We talked about our improvement projects, and their kids in college, and our little ones. Princess TD and Little TD were playing nearby and really being pretty good, not fighting and playing well with each other. I had turned my back to where the kids were momentarily, and I saw (and heard) a collective gasp from the rest of the adults. I turned around to find Princess TD grabbing her head and as she turned around, I saw blood gushing and dripping off her face. I immediately dropped everything, and put pressure on her forehead. Pause here for a rabbit trail.

Rabbit trail: When I was about 10 yrs old, I went with my step-father and one of my little brothers to McDonalds to get dinner. My brother and I stayed in the van, while my step-father went in to get the food (pre-drive through days). Just as he was getting back in the van with the food, my brother jumped from the back seat to the front and fell and hit the seat belt buckle and cut a gash in his head. My step-father asked me to put pressure on his head so that he could safely drive home, and I just couldn't do it. I was so freaked out about the blood and just really didn't know what to do. So, he put my brother on his lap and drove back to the house (about 1/2 mile). Ok, so maybe it's a 10 year old thing, or just a sister/brother thing, but I couldn't do anything to help my brother. But as soon as I saw my baby hurt, I immediately went into crisis mode and did what had to be done. I really do believe that God gives you what you need to be a parent, if you ask Him.

Back to the story: So, we all sat on the Lowe's sidewalk, trying to stop the bleeding. Our friends went to their car to get some wipes to clean up Princess TD's hands and knees. Mr. TD went to our car to get a couple of rags to help apply pressure. As we were all working to get her calm, a family of complete strangers brought us a bottle of water that they had in the back of their car that was frozen to put on her head. One of the women in the group asked Princess TD if she needed a drink, and then sent the man back to the car for a small bottle for her to drink. What a blessing they were! We didn't even get to thank them, they just helped out and went on their way. Once we had the bleeding stopped and were able to look and see what we were dealing with, we decided that it wasn't too bad, and were all getting up to go home. Just then, the Lowe's Manager came out to see if she was OK. Mr. TD explained that she tripped and fell and hit the wall, yes the "stone" wall that makes up the Lowe's building, with her head! We all parted ways, and got her to the car, and got her laughing once we got in.

So, we watched her this afternoon and she is her normal self. She is very expressive when she talks and uses her eyebrows frequently. I really hadn't noticed how much before, but everytime she did it today, her cut would start bleeding again. So tonight, we put on a pressure bandage and the bleeding stopped. We also decided that she probably needed a butterfly closure, so we did that as well. One of our neighbors is an ER nurse, and she didn't think we needed to take her for stitches, just to make sure she doesn't have a concussion. But, since Princess TD is a daredevil and took a nose dive from a shopping cart, I am very familiar with what I need to look for in a concussion, so tonight we are monitoring her for that and will take her in if things change. But for now, she's doing great!

Here's what she looked like when we got home from Lowe's.

It is a lot less red tonight and the ice took out most of the swelling. I think she's going to be just fine, and have a small reminder of the event just like her Uncle Brian. Ok, being honest...her Aunt Missy, her Uncle Jason, and her Mommy have one too! I guess it runs on Mommy's side of the family!