Another "First" for us....

We had our first Emergency Room visit last night. Before anyone panics, Ethan is fine. He just thought it would be fun to freak Mommy out. About 4:00 yesterday afternoon he tried to throw a toy and dropped it on his face instead. It really didn't seem like I big deal at first. Just a normal, every day kind of boo-boo. It whacked him, he screamed and I scooped him up for a cuddle and to kiss it all better.

He buried his face in my shoulder and had himself a good cry about it. It seemed to be taking a long time for him to stop crying so I laid him down to get a better look at the owie. I was shocked to see blood everywhere. My shoulder was covered in blood as were his whole face and both hands. Needless to say, I started to freak out. I can handle blood, just not when it's coming from one of my kids.

Pretending to be calmer than I really was, I got a cold washcloth and started wiping, trying to figure out where it was all coming from. Didn't take long to figure out it was coming from his mouth. I got him sort of wiped off and then gave him the cold cloth to chew on until the bleeding stopped. Only it didn't stop. After 15 minutes or so I called the pediatrician. Our wonderful nurse Faith said if it didn't stop after another 15 minutes I should take him straight to the ER. Not what I was hoping to hear.

While I called Shon to let him know what had happened I had Ethan keep the cold cloth in his mouth and applied pressure to his upper lip while he sat on my lap and whimpered. It felt like forever, but after 10 minutes or so it finally stopped bleeding. I was so relieved.

By this time it was 5:00 and I had to go get Meghan from daycare. So, we did that, then came home and did our usual routine. During dinner, Ethan was really fussy and didn't want to eat. After just a few bites I could see his mouth was oozing blood again. Poor boy was exhausted, hurting and very cranky. We decided to just give him a bath, some Tylenol and put him to bed. Never made it that far though. As soon as Shon got him undressed to put in the tub, the bleeding got worse. It as just as bad as when it first happened. I wasn't taking any chances and decided to take him in.

Of course, although he cried the whole way there, he fell asleep as soon as I pulled into the hospital parking lot. He slept through triage, checking in and almost the first hour of waiting to be seen. After another hour or so of him flirting with everyone in the waiting room it was finally our turn with the doctor.

She looked in his mouth, made sure his teeth were firmly attached (which totally pissed him off) and diagnosed him with a "lacerated frenulum" (that's a cut in the web of skin that hooks your top lip to your gums for those of us that don't speak "doctor"). Then she sent us on our way. I'm sure the 5 minutes we got of her time and that bit of wisdom is going to set us back a few hundred dollars. I felt kind of silly for going to the ER for something that turned out to be so simple; but, better safe than sorry. I'd rather spend the time and money to be told it's nothing than to not go and have him lose his teeth over it.

He's still a bit on the whiny side of things today and hasn't been too enthusiastic about eating. After seeing how beat up his mouth is, I really don't blame him. Hopefully it will heal soon and he'll be his normal, ornery self again in no time.