Our first set of stitches!!

Well, it was bound to happen sometime. Frankly, with a household of four boys, I'm kind of surprised that I've been at this mom thing for over 7 years and haven't had it happen before now. Last night, we got to add head laceration to our list of injuries that have occurred in our home. Brennen was coming down the stairs and somehow tripped. Now anybody who knows Brennen would never be surprised that he's the one this happened to. Unfortunately, the poor boy got his grace from dear old Mom. :-)

I heard the repeated thuds and saw a toy fly into my bedroom. I immediately heard the crying and decided that between the repeated thuds and severity of the cry, it was probably a situation that deserved some response from me. I find Brennen sitting on the staircase about halfway down with blood pouring from a cut on his head. First off, let me just say that I despise head wounds. They make a ridiculously large mess for me! So I do what every good mom concerned with the cleanliness of her carpet, and make a cup out of my hand to catch the red mess going everywhere, while at the same time trying to usher him to either vinyl or ceramic tile flooring at once. I told him it was fine, that it was just a little cut, and miraculously, he buys this theory and stops crying. We get to the bathroom, apply a wet cloth and within a few minutes, the bleeding subsides. However, as I'm looking at it, my mom training tells me that this is not going to heal correctly without some suture assistance. So off we head to ExpressCare. Brennen did GREAT! I must admit that I was prepared for what was probably going to look like an exorcism, because Brennen does not usually do the best with pain or shots, both of which I knew he was going to experience. Apparently though, he does great with extreme pain, just not minor little aches and pains. (I guess the next time he's due for a shot, I'll ask them to shoot him first, that way the shot will go well!)

He received 6 stitches all together. One on the inside and five one the outside. What a trooper though! Here's a picture of my little wounded man and his battle scars from the encounter with the staircase!

In case you're wondering, from previous bloody encounters, I have found a fabulous way to get blood out of carpet. (I'll tell you now that there is not a carpet cleaning solution that works!) Make a mixture of half hydrogen peroxide and half water. (We just have a bottle of this concoction kept in a squirt bottle ready to go!) Take a little salt and pour it onto the blood spots. Then spray with mixture. Dab and rub until blood is gone. You may need to go over it twice to comepletely remove it, but I haven't had a blood stain left in the carpet yet.