Monday morning while James was busy doing school work and I was finishing getting ready for the day we heard two children erupt into screams and tears. Both of us quickly rushed to the scene to figure out what had happened. We found our 16 month old and Gracie laying underneath our computer. Both of them were screaming. James proceeded to move the computer screen so we could get to the kids while I went for the baby first. As I was soothing him I looked over my shoulder and realized that Gracie was bleeding from her head. James realized the same thing at about the same time. He picked her up and I got a cloth wet to stop the bleeding. The bleeding actually stopped really easy so we were extremely glad that her platelets are really good right now, otherwise it would have been a 911 call and an ambulance trip to the children's hospital. Once the bleeding stopped we were able to get a better view of the laceration. It was about 1 inch long, but fairly deep. We didn't see skull, but I think we were nigh unto it. But there isn't much fat on top of the head, so that's not extremely difficult. It would have been about 2 inches back in the hair line, but that particular spot on her head is bald now so it afforded a really good view. We were able to take her to the pediatrician's office for stitches. When we got there they were weighing stitches vs. dermabond. We decided to go for the glue. Yay, fewer pokes for Gracie.
So from our 5 year old we have now got a clear picture of what exactly happened to cause this chaos. We don't have a TV so our kids have to watch movies on our computer. At the time it was kept in in the living room on a consol instead of a desk because it takes up less room. As it's an imac it doesn't really have that much bulk to require a desk. Gracie was sitting on the floor watching the movie, our 5 year old was sitting on the couch. Our baby was just cruising around. Now he's shown interest in the keyboard and mouse before, but never the computer itself. Until then. He reached up and pulled the entire computer off the stand. Now if you aren't familiar with imacs I'll just clarify that the screen IS the computer, and it's reasonably flat but it's still a 24 in screen. And now that we've looked it over really well we realize that the edges could be very sharp if it happened to land on your head, which is what happened to poor Gracie. So yesterday James made an essential purchase of a new corner desk (thanks to Craigslist) and the computer will now be stored in our bedroom on a deep desk and I don't see our baby being able to reach it to flip it over any more. (We can even hide the keyboard and mouse easier!) This was completely edicted as a safety necessity.
When our 7 year old was walking home from school with James and he told her about the accident her first question was "Is the computer okay?!" So in case any of you are also worried about the computer. It can take a licking and keep on ticking. It kept playing the movie (Dumbo) throughout the whole ordeal.
Gracie also was playing in a laundry basket today and flipped it over. She cried and we knew she was hurt but it wasn't until a few minutes later when I saw blood on my mom's shoulder that my mother and I realized that she was bleeding. Thank heaven's it was only a small split lip. But we figure we're trying really hard to bring Gracie back to the clinic tomorrow just as pitiful looking as we can make her. She is doing just fine though and recovered from both of her accidents very quickly. Her head still has a black and blue goose egg, and of course the laceration is still highly visible, but it is well approximated so I guess the glue is holding strong. No signs of infection. She's happy that the doctor made her head "all better". We're happy that no matter comes her way she takes everything in stride.
Gracie will not be going for her EUA until tomorrow afternoon. It seems that there was a bit of a mix up. Katie our nurse practitioner who we always work with started maternity leave at the end of December (and we wish her well), but because she was gone no one remembered to make sure we were on the surgery schedule for tomorrow. This was compounded by the fact that the surgery scheduler who has always scheduled us no longer works at Texas Childrens. I usually get a phone call by noon the day before the EUA telling me when to have Grace at the hospital. When by 1:30 no one had called me I started making phone calls. That's when we realized that she had been completely left off of tomorrow's schedule. The new surgery scheduler felt horrible and repeatedly apologized to me. It's not a huge deal. I'm just glad that I thought about it at 1:30 instead of realizing at 5 when no one was in their offices any more and we couldn't solve the problem. Thankfully I remembered in good time, and a potentially very bad situation was remedied. If it wasn't then I'd really be expecting some apologies. As it is we can deal wlith it. They usually schedule the younger kids for earlier in the morning, but because the slots were all taken all ready they just had to tag Gracie onto the end of the day. It's unfortunate because Gracie will have to be fasting for a really long time, but I'm still just grateful that it's getting done tomorrow. I need to know how these eyes are doing!
We're actually sitting in the hotel room in Houston right now. James and Grace are both asleep, I'm still wide awake. There is always at least some degree of anxiety before checking in. Actually I was so nervous a few days ago that my stomach was continually in knots, but as of last night I started doing really well. All the worries were replaced with peace. It happened while I was saying my bedtime prayers. I wasn't even praying all that earnestly, it's just that I was praying. I still don't know how things will go tomorrow, but the constant anxiety I was feeling is now gone. It's such a blessing from God. No matter what comes tomorrow, Gracie will be okay. She's in God's hands. She's His child and He can take better care of her than I can. Sometimes that's a hard thought for me, because I just want to make her all better. But it's not hard for me tonight. James and I have done all we can to help Gracie keep both of her eyes. Now it's time to find out what the Lord really wants to happen. And I have peace with this. Perhaps now I can go and get a good night's sleep (or part of one).
Stephanie
So from our 5 year old we have now got a clear picture of what exactly happened to cause this chaos. We don't have a TV so our kids have to watch movies on our computer. At the time it was kept in in the living room on a consol instead of a desk because it takes up less room. As it's an imac it doesn't really have that much bulk to require a desk. Gracie was sitting on the floor watching the movie, our 5 year old was sitting on the couch. Our baby was just cruising around. Now he's shown interest in the keyboard and mouse before, but never the computer itself. Until then. He reached up and pulled the entire computer off the stand. Now if you aren't familiar with imacs I'll just clarify that the screen IS the computer, and it's reasonably flat but it's still a 24 in screen. And now that we've looked it over really well we realize that the edges could be very sharp if it happened to land on your head, which is what happened to poor Gracie. So yesterday James made an essential purchase of a new corner desk (thanks to Craigslist) and the computer will now be stored in our bedroom on a deep desk and I don't see our baby being able to reach it to flip it over any more. (We can even hide the keyboard and mouse easier!) This was completely edicted as a safety necessity.
When our 7 year old was walking home from school with James and he told her about the accident her first question was "Is the computer okay?!" So in case any of you are also worried about the computer. It can take a licking and keep on ticking. It kept playing the movie (Dumbo) throughout the whole ordeal.
Gracie also was playing in a laundry basket today and flipped it over. She cried and we knew she was hurt but it wasn't until a few minutes later when I saw blood on my mom's shoulder that my mother and I realized that she was bleeding. Thank heaven's it was only a small split lip. But we figure we're trying really hard to bring Gracie back to the clinic tomorrow just as pitiful looking as we can make her. She is doing just fine though and recovered from both of her accidents very quickly. Her head still has a black and blue goose egg, and of course the laceration is still highly visible, but it is well approximated so I guess the glue is holding strong. No signs of infection. She's happy that the doctor made her head "all better". We're happy that no matter comes her way she takes everything in stride.
Gracie will not be going for her EUA until tomorrow afternoon. It seems that there was a bit of a mix up. Katie our nurse practitioner who we always work with started maternity leave at the end of December (and we wish her well), but because she was gone no one remembered to make sure we were on the surgery schedule for tomorrow. This was compounded by the fact that the surgery scheduler who has always scheduled us no longer works at Texas Childrens. I usually get a phone call by noon the day before the EUA telling me when to have Grace at the hospital. When by 1:30 no one had called me I started making phone calls. That's when we realized that she had been completely left off of tomorrow's schedule. The new surgery scheduler felt horrible and repeatedly apologized to me. It's not a huge deal. I'm just glad that I thought about it at 1:30 instead of realizing at 5 when no one was in their offices any more and we couldn't solve the problem. Thankfully I remembered in good time, and a potentially very bad situation was remedied. If it wasn't then I'd really be expecting some apologies. As it is we can deal wlith it. They usually schedule the younger kids for earlier in the morning, but because the slots were all taken all ready they just had to tag Gracie onto the end of the day. It's unfortunate because Gracie will have to be fasting for a really long time, but I'm still just grateful that it's getting done tomorrow. I need to know how these eyes are doing!
We're actually sitting in the hotel room in Houston right now. James and Grace are both asleep, I'm still wide awake. There is always at least some degree of anxiety before checking in. Actually I was so nervous a few days ago that my stomach was continually in knots, but as of last night I started doing really well. All the worries were replaced with peace. It happened while I was saying my bedtime prayers. I wasn't even praying all that earnestly, it's just that I was praying. I still don't know how things will go tomorrow, but the constant anxiety I was feeling is now gone. It's such a blessing from God. No matter what comes tomorrow, Gracie will be okay. She's in God's hands. She's His child and He can take better care of her than I can. Sometimes that's a hard thought for me, because I just want to make her all better. But it's not hard for me tonight. James and I have done all we can to help Gracie keep both of her eyes. Now it's time to find out what the Lord really wants to happen. And I have peace with this. Perhaps now I can go and get a good night's sleep (or part of one).
Stephanie
4 comments:
Steph, James and Gracie,
You are in our thoughts today, and our prayers constantly. I hope everything goes well for you today.
And Gracie will always look beautiful.
Love, Kir
We wish you three well, today. We hope your peaceful feelings from God will continue to sstain you.
Kristin and Dennis
Poor Gracie (and poor Sam too!)! Glad that the computer accident was remedied without an ambulance ride. Gracie's resilience is amazing!
We are keeping you all in our thoughts and prayers constantly and are grateful for the peace that you feel. We very much hope that all will go well for you today.
Love, Mardi
Hey guys - thinking of you always, but especially today. And thank heavens for dermabond!!! Carter has experienced it first-hand as well, and I'm very thankful for it! We'll anxiously await your updates.
Love,
Lins
Post a Comment