Wednesday, October 01, 2014

when parenthood surprises you

early morning breakfast, my beautiful boy is growing up and I'm so proud of the seven-year-old he has become / flowers (or weeds) picked and gifted with the best intentions

At 1:25am on Tuesday morning I lay in bed next to Poet in the Emergency Department at our local hospital. Exactly seven years earlier, a few wards away, I had just birthed Che. At the risk sounding like a cliche, I marvelled at the absurdity of time and parenthood - how it surprises and startles beyond comprehension. 

On Monday evening Poet gashed her forehead (actually, one of Che's friend's gashed her forehead - a story not worth repeating) and I'm being completely honest when I tell you I have never seen so much blood (I'm still finding it on the floorboards and walls). I had a screaming toddler who refused to have a towel placed against her head, Daniel chasing her with said towel, Che's friends completely traumatised by the drama and me...trying to stay calm whilst on the phone to the ambulance. A few hours later we were in Emergency waiting for the doctor to sedate her and stitch the deep wound. I kept reminding myself that a laceration was the least serious reason to be in Emergency and for that I should be grateful. But still, watching your three-year-old under sedation and listening to the doctor run through the risks was a little much for me at midnight. By 6am the next morning we were home. I was completely sleep deprived and yet I managed to make pancakes for Che's birthday breakfast (poor Che - his party was completely ruined!) and bake a cake that turned out rather well considering the circumstances. I spent the rest of the day in a daze - stringing a sentence together was beyond me.

The entire experience was far more traumatic for Daniel and I than it was for Poet. When we showed her the stitches she said: "Oh, it looks like a leaf on my head!" and so we refer to the wound as her leaf - still bloody and quite unsightly, but a mark of childhood, no? The doctor warned us that a mild head injury can result in some bad behaviour for the days following and with that in mind, Poet is doing all the right things; refusing to listen, climbing on furniture, pinching her brother.

Meanwhile, I'm attempting to counteract all the adrenalin in my body and give my baby some deep, calm breaths.


23 COMMENTS

  1. Oh no! Head injuries always bleed more than you think they should. I bashed my head when I was 11 and it bled loads! My poor Mum - I think she expected it from my brother then got it from me too as I was a bit clumsy!

    ReplyDelete
  2. So sorry for the wild few days. I hope Poet is feeling well and that you are resting well.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Goodness, such a fright. Glad to hear how resilient Poet is (what a sweet take--stitches like leaves), and wishing Che many happy and healthy returns of the day.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nothing like a wounded three-year-old to cause all kinds of Mummy-stress. Go easy and gently for a few days.

    ReplyDelete
  5. You poor things!
    Emergency room visits are traumatic no matter the scale of emergency that brings you there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The energy in ED is so intense...to be honest, I'm still recovering from it all. I suppose it doesn't help that I'm pregnant and extra-sensitive. Deep breaths x

      Delete
  6. Glad Poet is okay! I do not handle kid injuries well. I thought I would but instead I get all panicky. I need to work on that.

    Hope you managed a couple of those deep breaths. x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was actually surprised at how calm I remained during and shortly after the event but it was when we got to hospital and the doctors starting chatting about sedation etc that my adrenalin really kicked in x

      Delete
  7. Oh my! You poor things! This will certainly be a birthday Che (or Poet!) will be unlikely to forget!! I'm sure you could've done without it though lovely lady! Deep breaths and May calmness return soon!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh my goodness, Jodi. That sounds traumatising just reading about it.
    Sending you much love and hugs.
    Ronnie xo

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh poor girl! It's funny how little ones can move so quickly to being utterly unphased by stitches or scrapes while their parents are still trying to calm themselves again!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I arrived home and saw 2 ambos out the front. It took every ounce of self control I have NOT to run up there and make sure everything was okay.

    Glad you're breathing deep

    xx

    ReplyDelete
  11. Happy Birthday to Che! I feel for you, watching your baby being stitched up is awful, we've been there 3 times with our littlest boy and as much as you try to put things into perspective, its still horrible..not to mention the challenging behaviour and sleep deprivation thrown in afterwards..x

    ReplyDelete
  12. poor little thing! perhaps you can celebrate with Che another day when things have calmed down.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I am very grateful to read this as we were in there with Lucas the same evening & I saw Daniel walk past so was crossing my fingers there was not a longer lasting reason for your visit. Still such a draining and daunting experience though. It is hard not to put it all in perspective when you are pacing those floors. I hope Leaf makes a speedy recovery and you all get to catch up on some well deserved rest very soon. Xx

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hope everybody is well !!! What a story! When your children are hurt.. the pain is so deep inside your heart!!! Happy birthday Che from Quebec city ( Canada)!!! and sweet dreams for Poet!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Yikes, what a frightening experience for you all, I hope she's on the mend soon along with the unfavourable behaviour! It's so awful when our wee ones hurt themselves xx

    ReplyDelete
  16. I love the picture of the flowers! What camera do you use? I have a nikon D600 so I'm always wondering what other people shoot with.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The photo of the flowers was actually taken with a really cheap, little camera that I used full-time for about three years - the panasonic GF1 with 20mm 1.7 lens. The top photo, and most of the photos featured on the blog recently, were taken with the Canon 5D mkiii and 50mm 1.4 lens x

      Delete
  17. I've only been a parent for a short time but like you I have learnt quickly that parenthood is completely unpredictable and always manages to catch you off guard. Sending much love and rest to you. Melinda x

    ReplyDelete
  18. Oh no! That would of been absolutely frightening...oh and the timing too. We use to get the croup scare every winter and have to rush to hospital an hour away in the middle of the night. Night time emergencies no matter what they are never get easier. Hope things are calmer now.

    ReplyDelete
  19. How scary for everyone involved, i can't imagine how you must have been feeling I'm glad Poet is recovering well xx

    ReplyDelete

© 2014 Jodi Wilson. You may not take images or content from this site without written permission.