Not The Recommended Path

Several weeks ago we had quite the adventure with Nicholas.  We were in church and just after the sacrament had been passed, Nicholas tripped and had a kiss of death with the bench hymn book holder.  I saw him go down, grabbed him and was almost out the door before the first scream.  Little did I know until I got out into the foyer that he was bleeding, lots.  Devin noticed the blood as I was taking him out and left Anna on the bench and followed me with the diaper bag.  When I saw Devin all I could say was, "blood!" Poor Nicholas was screaming, crying, and bleeding.  We were able to get it to stop, but it just wouldn't stop for long.  Devin went back in to sit with Anna.  We stayed through all of church. It would stop bleeding and then start, and on and on.  I am really grateful I was wearing a black dress because it was covered in blood.  Nick's white shirt and tie were a mess.  

When we got home from church  it just wasn't stopping.  We called up my brother Peter who lives in Cedar Hills and his wife Emily came and got Anna and we went to InstaCare.  We weren't surprised at the long hour plus wait.  When we told them what was going on the took us right back.  YEAH!  The nurse looked at him, the doctor looked at him, and we were told that there was nothing they could do and that we would just have to wait until it stopped on its own.  Great, not!  I am grateful that they didn't make us pay anything because, "we were not seen" by any doctores.  Oh, ok???  

So we went and got Anna and went home.  All afternoon the bleeding would stop and start and stop and start.  By 5pm it started and was just going and going.  Poor Nicholas hadn't slept all day, couldn't really eat, and had swallowed tons of blood.  He was so sick.  By 8pm it was still bleeding.  We took Anna over to Peter's house and went to InstaCare again.  I sat in the back with a towel because it was bleeding at a pretty steady flow.  When we got to the InstaCare Devin pulled him out of his seat and he barfed in the parking lot.  I was so grateful that he puked in the parking lot and not in my house or in the car.  Poor kid was so pale.  The receptionist looked at us when we walked in and said, "Oh you guys again."  We were rushed back again, and the nurses were not so nice.  The looked at us like we were idiots and asked if we had used direct pressure and that if we really wanted it to stop we would have to pin him down for at least 5 minutes and apply direct pressure.  Well considering it took both Devin and I to hold him down for the nurse to look at him, I am not sure how we could have pinned him down for 5 minutes so ...Anna could apply direct pressure.  WHATEVER!!!!  They told us there was nothing they could do and they sent us to the ER.  

By the time we got to the ER the bleeding had stopped again, but we were sure it would start up again.  The nurses and doctors there were great.  We pinned him down again and the doctor cleaned it all out.  His teeth look good, no damage there.  They were able to give him some drugs for the nausea.  And best of all, it finally stopped bleeding.  The sad news was that he couldn't have his binky or a bottle for at least 3 days.  Devin and I looked at each other and knew that if  he had to do three days without them, he was done.  So, long story short our little boy was instantly done with his binky and bottle.  The next few days were pretty rough at night.  We have been hanging on to his nighttime bottle because he doesn't drink a lot during the day.  He was so ticked each night when the bottle didn't show up.  After a few days he got over it.  He is doing great now, though I wouldn't recommend the "smashing your child's face on the bench at church" to get rid of the binky path if I were you.