Wyatt's Hopping

Tonight Jonathan is gone. At 6:15p, we had ice cream. At 6:30p, we all headed upstairs. Henry showered, and after a serious (but hopefully productive) discipline session, I put him to bed. I bathed Tessa and Myles. Put Tessa to bed. Wyatt took a shower while Myles played in the pack-n-play in our room. Then I had Wyatt look at books while I read Myles some books, and then put Myles to bed. Then I came to get Wyatt. I noted in my head, verbatim... "Sweet... it's 7:56p, three down and one to go. I can be exercising by 8:15p!"

But OH Wyatt. My little bunny rabbit. He hops EVERYWHERE. You might think I'm kidding, but I'm not. He hops, jogs, skips, gallops... I'm not sure he knows how to simply walk. So... I let him finish his book while I folded some laundry. Then I said, "Go potty one more time before you go to bed." He hops like a bunny into my bathroom. He wipes out on the tile. He face plants the toilet.

-----Now mind you, after his shower, he was hopping with wet feet on the tile. And I said, again, verbatim... "Listen bud, one of these days you're going to slip and bust your head open." (I feel like my mom when I say stuff like that!)-----

Instant blood is pouring out of his mouth. He's screaming like a crazy animal, and I'm just trying to figure out if he knocked his teeth out or what!!! I HATE emergencies like this... esp when I'm on my own! I finally figure out he popped himself pretty good on the upper lip and banged up his gums, but his teeth seem in tact. We get a cold rag, and I have to make him sit down so he can't see himself in the mirror. For some reason, the more he looks at himself, the more he screams. After about 22 minutes of crying, hyperventilating, panic, inability to talk... He FINALLY calms down!! I give him some tylenol. We have a short discussion on how we handle ourselves when injuries occur. I reassure him it's OK to cry, but that we really need to work on the screaming and breathing. Not sure how much he followed that... but I guess time will tell :) He requests a cold rag to sleep with. But, "Mom, I don't want to have to hold the rag while I sleep. I want to lay flat enough so the rag just balances on my face." (He's always very specific about stuff like this.) Ok... this took some work, but we got it figured out. And he and Chip happily went to sleep w/in minutes.

At 8:49p - I start the exercise video :)

Our first broken bone

I decided to start a label called injuries... just in case we have more. I guess with almost 4 kids, it's bound to happen. Especially since 3 of those kids are boys. I know that is just stereotyping, but I'm just going to bank on it so I can prepare myself mentally now since injuries really aren't my thing :) Go here to see our first set of stitches... which happened almost a year ago to this day while were vacationing!

 Last night we hosted our church group for a cookout. Everything was going so well... I had rested during the day, so I had plenty of energy, adults were visiting inside and out, one of the high school boys had taken the younger kids out to play whiffle ball. A perfect, low temp, high humidity evening to spend with church family. I walked outside to give Myles some ice cream and was chatting with a friend. The kids were playing and Wyatt was rounding bases after a hit. One of the bases was near their playset which has a bunch of ropes hanging off it b/c they were making pulley's the other day to pull up tractors. He's running full blast and as he passes the rope, gets his foot caught and it was like a movie... the rope literally pulled his feet right out from under him but his body kept going. He basically face planted pretty hard. He got up and gave out the initial cry which I recognized... I handed Myles over to my friend, and bolted off the deck as carefully as possible being 37 weeks pregnant! I could tell that breath was not coming out so I wanted to get to him right away. Sure enough, even smacking him in the face and blowing in his mouth did not work, and he did one of those weird seizure things, turned blue, and passed out in my arms. I am SO THANKFUL to God that I was out there. Had it been 2 minutes earlier, there would have been no adult out there, and he just would have fallen over face first. Funny thing... as Wyatt is lying limp in my arms, Henry had run over, picks up Wyatt's arm and it just falls. He says, "Uh Mom, I think Wyatt better take a break."

When he came to, he was a mess and it took literally about 20 minutes to calm him down. My friend who had Myles took one look at him and said.. hmmm, his collarbone looks a little funny. Shoot!! We got him the usual... some sugar to boost his levels and a cool rag. Took him upstairs, assessed together, and decided to take a trip to Children's. We were so, so thankful our church family was there. It's so different than just having a neighbor to help out. They cared for Myles and Henry while we were upstairs, prayed with me before they all left, and it def helped lighten the spirit and the mood!! J took Wyatt to Children's... I am so OK with my husband doing that instead of me! He is caring, compassionate, attentive, and always asks good questions when in those situations. And even though he HATES needles, he handles bones and gashes much better than me. (I was still recovering at 11pm from a queasy stomach!!) But while he was at Children's, Pastor Dan came to see little Wy and Uncle Devon came and stayed with them until they got the x-rays back with results. What a blessing to have friends/family who love the Lord and encourage in a way that brings us back to God's sovereignty!

Final Result: Wyatt was EXTREMELY chatty when he arrived. Super pumped about his sling (I'm sure that will wear off!!!). He has to be in a sling for 3- weeks, wrapped. I am due in 3 weeks. Jonathan starts school in 3 weeks... wow, should be fun :) We see a orthopedic doctor next week. Thankfully it is his right arm that is not wrapped so he can eat OK, but of course will need help bathing, dressing, etc. Looking forward to making this a purposeful time for all of us, but really being conscious of using as a time to encourage the boys to help each other, and to think of ways to show compassion to those who are wounded, in need, etc. And to remind them when they start to get frustrated with feeling restricted that all things happen for a reason. And all things are under God's control... even broken collarbones!

It's only a matter of time...

With three boys, we know it's probably only a matter of time before we endure some injuries. I DREAD this. I really do. I am one of those mom's who imagine and predict injuries in every location. If you're ever at a playdate with me, it's safe to assume that I'm only half listening to you while I'm really stealing glances at the kids to make sure noone is falling off the monkey bars. It's part my make-up (thanks mom!) and it's part the fact that we have one child who has breath-holding spells and happens to be accident-prone, so I'm always trying to proactively prevent collisions or falls to avoid an unconscious child. It's also part that Jonathan and I both have very real physical reactions to blood, open wounds, and emergency situations. Humanly, I fear these accidents not knowing what the outcome will be. Sinfully, there are times when I simply don't trust that God is already ahead and will give grace when needed. At any rate, it's one of those growth areas in my heart and today it grew... a lot.   

We were at a play area this morning with the boys and Chris. It's a deck platform and is roped off. Henry simply leaned over the rope to touch the grass off the platform, but he flipped over and his head landed right on the edge of the deck. He instantly popped up and yelled my name. Jonathan practically threw Myles into my arms, and ran over and immediately said we need to get to a hospital. I threw Myles to Chris and tended to Wyatt who simply started screaming like a girl (looking back, it was hilarious), then took off my top layer shirt (thankfully I had on two!) and we wrapped it around Henry's head. He was crying, crying, crying, and we walked about two blocks back to our house. Looking back it's funny b/c I threw Wyatt in the stroller to calm him down and Chris carried Myles, but I kept looking back at Jonathan carrying Henry which resulted in me running the stroller off the sidewalk and into a tree twice. I remember thinking, "Michelle, focus, we don't need another injury." I have learned about myself that I generally don't panic in a physical way (like screaming or crying) in emergencies, but I DO NOT think clearly. And I'm not a quick decision-maker. I need someone to give me instructions, but of course, I'm the parent, so often times I'm the one needing to make decisions! Thankfully Jonathan and Chris were both on their A-game so I just needed to be the supportive player.

Chris looked up the nearest hospital which thankfully was only a few miles down the road. We left Wyatt with him, and took Myles and Henry with us. Chris gave me his phone to take b/c he had directions pulled up, which in the end I was really thankful for b/c I realized my phone was almost dead when we arrived at the hospital. Devon and Beth eventually came back from where they were and picked up Myles for us. Before they arrived, I was sitting in a wheelchair holding Henry and feeling so nautious that I thought I was going to throw up. Henry had no pain reliever but seemed to be holding it together fairly well. We had given him a sip of juice and a few crackers in the car. I just kept looking at every corner of the room and locating the trash can b/c I was sure I was going to need one. Jonathan went to buy some Sprite when he noticed my white and sweaty face. He said, "It's going to be OK." Then he smiled. "Are you OK? I'll get you something to drink. Don't worry, I already went through the physical reaction in the car... you're just about 5 minutes behind me. Whatever you do, don't look at his head. It's really bad." Henry ended up with a 2.5 inch gash and I will spare you the nausea by not posting the pre-stitch picture. I wish they would have put more stitches in it, but there wasn't much we could do at that point but trust that the Lord knows what is best. They were very kind and sweet with Henry, and we were very thankful for that.

We stopped at the store to pick up bandages and first aid ointment - he thought the camo stuff was pretty cool. We went to dinner this evening and he seemed to be OK. He just connected the dots this evening that he is not going to get to boogie board or swim underwater this week. I feel so bad for him.. but we'll just have to come up with some other fun stuff to do. The wonderful thing is that throughout the whole day, we were able to pray with him, remind him that he was not alone, and remind him that God was watching over his every move. I really believe that brought comfort to him - and I'm thankful that it brought comfort to us. Knowing that every detail of our life is in God's watchcare gives us an amazing confidence that nothing happens on accident.

We are thankful for family that was here to help... so thankful that the Lord gave us Chris in that moment to help us and be a calm person to care for Wyatt. So thankful the Berry's were here to get Myles and I know Henry loved seeing them all when he returned.

So... onto more vacation fun!! Hoping we're injury free this week!! :)