Nathan's Stitches

Last month Nathan was quickly riding his bike with some neighbor friends when he decided to make a U-turn without looking behind him first. It didn't turn out so well for him. He crashed into a friend riding a scooter. Nathan ended up with a pretty good sized gash on his lower leg. Brad and I rushed off to Urgent Care (so thankful I finally found out where my Urgent Care was) while our friends, the Crawfords, took care of the kids.

With Brad's help and the lovely Urgent Care, I was able to support Nathan and comfort him in his pain. I did see the open cut, but knowing the consequences of studying an open wound I decided to keep a bit of distance between me and the open layers of skin. The doctor at Urgent Care was gracious enough to poke and prod at the wound as he showed up what layers would have to be covered and what layers were not skin layers and explained how the skin would have to be a bit stretched to cover the fatty tissue. It was at the point of him explaining where the fatty tissue was that I decided I was fine keeping eye contact with the doctor and wishing him God's speed with whatever the heck it was he needed to do.

So we got through that first day. I cleaned the wound nightly. We went to the wound check three days later. I continued to clean it every day.

For some reason it wasn't until the stitches were taken out a week and a half later that my humanity caught up with my motherhood.

I showed up at the doctor's with all four children, because that's just how I roll. I think that means I like to make things more difficult on myself, but there you have it. Our lovely doctor began carefully cleaning, pulling, and snipping. My face was again inches away from Nathan's as he growled through the pain of stitches being pulled from the thick scab. I did watch as his wound was cleaned and re-taped with surgical tape for a few more days.

It was around this time that I began to feel a little funny. I let the doctor do what he needed to do as I sat down behind him and quietly took some deep breaths. The doctor, sensing that I was getting a little woozy, told me to take my time. When he was all done re-bandaging he asked, "How are you feeling?" Nathan and I both answered, "I'm okay." Yeah, that was a little embarrassing.

I stomped out of the office and into the foyer where many people were waiting with sick children and new babies. The four children were clambering for stickers as I tried to convince myself that it was all in my head.

It wasn't until a mother of one, sitting by the exit, commented, "They're all yours? Wow!" She either needed to know I was not Super Woman or I needed to be reminded of that myself, because it wasn't until after she said that that I needed to seriously sit down (in a crowded room all watching the excited children begging for stickers) and put my head down between my knees.

So this mother of four, who cleaned wounds, and took the whole crew to the doctor', literally almost passed out at the doctor's office. Sigh... I had to be helped to a back room. Kaeley and the nurse took over helping children with stickers, asking if I needed water, and finding a contact number they could call for help. When the doctor came in to check on me I asked if it were possible that I could have caught the flu this fast. He smiled sweetly and replied no. Okay, great. That means I'm just a wimp.

My mother-in-law came to help me out the door once I felt I was "whole" again.

Later, the office called to ask how I was feeling. Well, besides a little humbled, I was fine.