Stitches For Our Boy

by Amy
(Louisville, KY)

When our son, Avery, was starting to toddle around we were always overly cautious. We were afraid that he was going to fall and hurt himself. My husband's mother kept telling us not to worry. She had experience with little ones and this was our first, so we decided to lighten up a bit. I still look back on this a one of my major mistakes in parenting.

We were at our in-laws house one day and Avery was roaming around like usual. He had been kind of cranky all day and kept throwing fits when he didn't get what he wanted.

My in-laws living room has a long raised brick fireplace that runs the length of the room. I was speaking to a family member when I heard Avery start screaming. At first I thought it was just another fit, but when I turned around his face was covered in blood. I panicked.

Avery had fallen while toddling around the fireplace and hit his head on the edge of the bricks. Of course I didn't realize that head injuries bleed much worse than other cuts and I thought that he was going to bleed to death.

We grabbed him up and started rushing to the ER. My mother-in-law called his peditrician for us and one of the doctors met us at the ER. The cut on his forehead was not as bad as I had thought. All that was required was three stitches.

The worst part was watching my baby be strapped down to hold him still while the placed the stiches. That still breaks my heart thinking about it. That was the scariest thing that happened to us with our baby.