Norah's Stitches

 So Norah had a pretty tramatic experience on May 4th. Sunday night I was watching a show with the kids while Benj left for a few minutes to help his grandparents with their computer. Norah started screaming and I looked up and see her 2 tiny fingers stuck in between our TV hutch doors. 

I tried to pull them out but they were wedged so tightly I couldn't get them out. The doors hinge so I didn't want to move them in the wrong direction in fear I would break her fingers!

What felt like eternity (only about 1 minute) I finally got them out. I could see the skin was broken and the cut deep. Her fingers looked, well, flat and I was worried they were broken. I frantically called Benj (no answer), grabbed a wet hand towel and tried to have Norah hold it on her hand. She wanted none of it! She'd freak out and rub her fingers on her shirt and didn't want anything touching them. I called Benj again, this time he answered. All I said is "Come home right now!" and I hung up before telling him details. Grabbed the towel and tried to calm Norah down. Called Benj again and said, "This really is an emergency. Norah's fingers might be broken and I need to take her to the ER."

Norah with her bandaged fingers

He got home fast and I left with Norah, her whole arm wrapped in the hand towel and bandage tape to try to keep it in place. If you know Norah, you know she sucks her thumb. It was really hard for her to not suck her thumb since it was on the damaged hand. I felt like I was running around like a madwoman.

It being Sunday, our only option really was the hospital ER. As I drove, she would have little sad spurts. She started singing Let It Go in her sad little voice. That made me cry and we sang that song all the way to the hospital. They didn't make us wait too long and Norah calmed down by watching Minnie Mouse on my phone. By the time we got to a room of our own, it was probably around 8:30. 

The ER doctors and nurses took great care of Norah. I held Norah in my lap while they took a few x-rays to make sure it wasn't broken. Good news was it wasn't. She needed 3 stitches in each finger so 6 total.

The worst part was her getting the 2 shots to numb her for stitches. They wrapped her mummy-like in a sheet with her arm out so she wouldn't move. She screamed and screamed! I tried to stroke her head and comfort her, but she really didn't calm down until they were done with the shots. Afterwards she calmed right down. I asked her if she wanted me to sing her a song and I sang Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam. Then I Love to See the Temple, Popcorn Popping, and I am a Child of God. By the time I got to the chorus of the last song, she was snoring. It was about 10:00 by the time we left. Its no wonder she was exhausted.

She was really good about not pulling on her bandage and knowing she had an "owie". I had to replace the bandage for the first few days. Then she really didn't need one (although she liked having bandaids on her fingers). You can see on the photo below how it fell off while she took a nap.

We went in 10 days later to get them removed. Amazing how fast little bodies can heal. Norah did great while they removed them.

To celebrate getting her stitches out, she got a treat at Sweet Tooth Fairy. She chose a fairyfetti cake bite. You can see she was excited. 

So, this was my first (and hopefully) last experience with stitches as a mom. Its so hard to see your kids in pain. I hope we don't have to deal with this again!