Never a dull moment....(graphic photo warning)

Our little miss Emily took a bad fall yesterday....we were swimming at my cousin's house and she was climbing up the ladder of the pool slide when she slipped and fell and landed on the concrete. We aren't sure if she hit her head on the concrete or on the ladder, but which ever she hit, she hit hard. I went running to her and Andrew and Kelli both jumped out of the pool as well, they actually got to her first and yelled that she was bleeding. When I got to here, I absolutely freaked, I think it was a combination of the look in her eyes and the blood, and a laceration like I hadn't seen, but it rocked my world. The biggest blessing of the day is that my sister in law, Amber, and her husband, Jim (who just happens to be a paramedic) were there with us, otherwise I would have been by myself. I screamed for Jim to come over (and he says I also yelled to call 911, I don't know if the words came out of my mouth, but I am sure he heard it in my scream). He threw a towel across the pool to Andrew and he gave it to me and I held it on her head. I laid down on the ground beside her and tried to calm her down as Jim talked to the 911 operator. He was very calm and reassured me she was going to be okay. We didn't know what the address was (my cousin is out of town) so bless his heart, he ran to the end of their driveway (they are out in the country) to get them the right address. Amber had already called Brian, who is thankfully working minutes from home these days, and then she took Andrew and Kelli away and got them calmed down and settled inside. The paramedics who came were wonderful, they let me just stay right where I was until it was absolutely necessary to move so they could put her on a backboard. I threw my clothes on while they were doing that, and then they let me ride in the ambulance with her. She got very sleepy on the way to the hospital which freaked me out, but she would wake up and answer questions appropriately. One of the paramedics was blown away by her vocabulary when they found out she was only 2 years old! =) She fell fast asleep once we were in the ER, the nurses assured us it was fine that she was sleeping. It was her nap time, and she had been swimming for 3 hours, and of course the trauma that had just unfolded was exhausting as well. Even with their assurances, I counted every respiration and checked her pulse frequently. The ER doc came in and took a look at the damage and he says; "This may seem like a silly question, but was there a chunk of tissue at the scene?" I just looked at him, I am sure with a deer in the headlights expression. I was just thinking of Emily with this crater-ish scar because I hadn't noticed a piece of flesh lying on the concrete (which is pretty flesh colored by the way ;))! He looked at it some more and pushed things together from different angles and decided that all the tissue was infact there! Thank goodness! He wanted to do a CT scan of her neck and head before he did anything just to make sure there wasn't any internal injury. It was a pretty typical ER visit, waiting for the next step in the process. I told Brian he could go home and be with the other kids, I was worried about Andrew and Kelli being traumatized. Shortly after he left, Em woke up and said she was sick, I figured she was just talking about her head, but then I could see in her eyes that she didn't feel well. I put on the call light and a bit later an EMT came in, I told him I thought she was going to be sick so he went to get the nurse. In the meantime, she said she was feeling better and the CT tech came in to take us to get the scan done. We get over there, get her on the table and she is screaming (to which the CT tech seemed disgusted), they were walking over to their little room when she started throwing up, keep in mind she is on a back board totally strapped down. I grabbed the backboard and turned her to her side, she was in a panic, but quickly calmed and you could tell she felt so much better. She did really, really well for the CT, they had me hold her head, so I was right there with her...I just sang Jesus Loves Me over and over again until it was done. We got the word fairly quickly from the doc that the scans were clear and then he numbed up her forehead, which was I think the worst part. It burns like the devil. She just screamed and screamed. I was laying sort of on her lower body to keep her from fighting and held her hands on her chest. When she was all numbed up, that same EMT came in to clean the wound. He was wonderful! He was so calm and so reassuring, he told her everything he was going to do in words that she could understand. He did just an amazing job with her. I just stayed right in the bed the rest of the time with her, getting in that same position when the ER doc came back to do the stitches. She had a drape over her face, and she would be quiet for a little bit, then she would cry, then she would ask a series of questions...mommy where are you...can we go home now...what is that man doing to me...is he almost done? Then she would repeat the cycle. When they were all done, the doc said he was pleased with how it turned out. Suturing is out of my realm of expertise, but when I looked, knowing what it looked like before, I was super pleased as well. I just didn't know how it was all going to go back together. Our favorite EMT came back in to get her all bandaged up and then received discharge instructions from our nurse. She had gotten sick twice more before we left, but they assured us that it was normal with a head injury, and just to let her doctor know if she wasn't acting like herself. She threw up several more times when we got home, and was very sleepy. I was so nervous, and really uncertain what to do. I was just wanting something to reassure me that she was okay. At 9pm, she got sick again, and I didn't get the emesis basin to her in time so she threw up all over her blanket and new teddy bear from Uncle Rod and Aunt Dana. She looked at me, looked at the blanket and bear, looked back at me and said "That's gross!". It was said in just the right tone that I knew my little Emily was in there and doing just fine! We got cozied up on the couch together and Brian got everyone else tucked in to bed and turned in himself. We had a quiet night. She didn't get sick any more after 9pm. I woke her every couple hours and would ask her a few questions which she answered quickly and appropriately each time. At 4am when I woke her up, she looked at me and said "Heylo, mommy!" with a big smile on her face...I asked her how old she was, which I had asked her each time I woke her, and she said "I'm still 2 mommy!" When she woke up around 7am, she was really back to her normal self. She wanted to eat, wanted to know where everyone was, wanted to wake everyone up, wanted to call her grandma and grandpas. We really had a typical day, with the exception of extra visitors and gifts! =) She was getting sleepy this evening, but I really wanted to wash her hair before she got in her bed, she had all kinds of yuck in it. So I took the bandages off and gave her a quick sink bath and got a few pics of her war wound before we put the bandage back on. She is a trooper, a brave girl! There is something so powerful about seeing your child in that state. I know that it could have been SO much worse, and I am SO grateful for God's grace and protection of our sweet girl. Here are some photos from the last two days, be fore warned that some of them are graphic, so don't proceed if you don't want to see them....Thank you for all your prayers and sweet emails and phone calls! We are blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful caring people!

In the ER waiting for the CT scan

This isn't the best picture, but I grabbed it real quick while no one was looking...they already thought I was a little crazy because I wanted to be the one to restrain her arms and legs...but it gives you an idea of what it looked like before stitches

This picture just breaks my heart...

Then this is how she woke up this morning...quite a difference!! She made her mommy's morning!

snugglin with big brother

Sink bath...she thought this was awesome! =) I am sure she will want sink baths all the time now! (And when did I get to looking so old??? I think I aged a few years in the last 24 hours)

What I love about this next picture is my expression...I have photos of me giving several of the kids sink baths when they were less than a week old, and I have that same expression. It's just a look, of, man I didn't know I could love someone so much.

Okay...here's how it looks...everytime I look at these, I think, well maybe she will be a Texas Longhorns fan =)

Here is a little video she made this morning...

The doc, says it will leave quite a scar and that when she is older we may want to have a plastic surgeon take a look at it. We will put some magic Arbonne Skin Conditioning Oil on it after it's healed and keep it protected from the sun and then just wait and see what happens. Even if it leaves a nasty scar, I am pretty confident that it won't slow Emily down a bit. She is an amazing little girl. She spreads joy where ever she goes. There is just something about her. I'm so glad she's mine.