The Christmas season is never complete without a minor catastrophe

Last night I put Audrey to bed and read her the first chapter of Little House on the Prairie, which Santa brought for her. Afterward she wanted to review some verses in her AWANA book, since she will need to recite them when AWANA starts again after Christmas break. It was already getting late, and I thought maybe we should do it another time, but she insisted and crawled to the end of her bed where the book normally is. No book. So she hopped down to look under the bed...and in the process, the pencil she was holding (why? I haven't even thought to ask that until now) poked her in the face, right between her upper lip and nose.

It was a freshly sharpened pencil and it did break the skin. I checked quickly to make sure none of the pencil had broken off inside the wound (it didn't), and then got her quickly to the bathroom to stop the bleeding with a Kleenex. Then I had to figure out: a) how bad was it? b) if it wasn't bad enough to need stitches to *heal*, was it bad enough to need stitches so that it wouldn't scar? The wound definitely gaped open a bit, but it wasn't very big; it was a little more than 1/8 of an inch long, and about half as wide. It closed when I pinched it. I've never had to deal with any kind of open wound like this before, either in myself or my kids, so I wasn't sure if I could even decide how serious it was. Leo kept saying, oh, it's no big deal, it will be fine, but I finally insisted on calling the hospital ER to get their opinion (though I sort of guessed that if there was any question, especially since it was a puncture wound, they would have us come in anyway).

After waiting on the phone for 15 minutes, I finally got a nurse who ultimately agreed I should bring her in. First I had to figure out where the hospital *was* (we just moved here! Though you'd think I would have tracked the place down by now in case we'd need to go there if there's a problem with the baby. D'oh!). I located the hospital on my trusty local map, and we were off, Audrey still in her jammies, robe, and slippers, with her teddy bear in tow.

Thankfully we didn't have to wait too long. The triage nurse took her vital signs and asked the required questions (some, I could tell, were to determine whether this was an accident or something more sinister).

::tangent in the style of mrtl:: I have to confess that, because of some of our less-than-mainstream parenting practices, I am sometimes concerned that trips like this to the ER could result in CPS being called. Some may think this is paranoid, but I have heard stories and even know people to whom this has happened. Some people in social services think that if your kids sleep in your bed and/or you are still breastfeeding past the age of 12 months, you must be abusing them in one or more ways. My experiences this year with my friend, whose child was taken from her for months, have also made me cautious. The intake nurse asked me if Audrey was in school...what the heck is THAT? What does it have to do with anything? My guess is that homeschooling is a red flag, that's what. Also, before we left, the nurse said she needed to check if we needed to speak with a counselor first. Counselor? Huh??

Not to mention we are conservative about some vaccines. Audrey's are currently up-to-date, so at least we didn't have to worry about that this time, but not being up-to-date on vaccines is, I'm guessing, another huge red flag. And I was totally paranoid that some nurse would ask just conversationally if I was going to have the baby at this hospital, and who my doctor was!

At any rate, my guard was up a bit. But in the end it all went well. ::end tangent in the style of mrtl::

We waited just a bit to see another nurse, and then the nurse practitioner, who cleaned the wound with iodine (which stung a little) and then determined that while the wound should be closed, stitches would not be necessary, just a little Dermabond. Big sigh of relief from both Audrey and me! Audrey's last experience with a needle of any kind, when we were getting her last kindergarten shots, resulted in her running away from me in the doctor's office, down the hall, and then being held down by a nurse and me, while two other nurses administered the shots, one in each leg, at the same time. Audrey has admitted since then that the shots hardly hurt at all, and that she would be much braver next time, but she was still anxious and we were both afraid of the possibility of stitches and the preceding shot she would likely need. Medical grade superglue was a different story. It did sting, though, even more than the iodine did, and I could tell she was trying not to cry. She was, in fact, very brave, and I told her so afterward.

Now the only problem is that, because the glue is still a little shiny, the poor kid looks like she has a slightly bloody booger under her nose! And she's very self-conscious, even though she isn't really aware of her boogery appearance. But the glue should wear off by the time she goes back to school in a week and a half or so.

I'm just grateful, though, that:
a) she didn't poke herself in the eye
b) the pencil didn't break off under the skin
c) the gouge wasn't bigger than it was
d) SHE DIDN'T NEED STITCHES!

(And of course, that we got out of the hospital without any of my panic buttons being pushed.)