Bumps and Bruises....or Blood and Stitches

O may be the death of me. That child, in his 4.5 short years of life, has had more "injuries", than the older two boys have combined. We've had our head "glued" shut once, and numerous trips to the drug store to buy "butterfly" band aids and an attempt at glue and steri strips here at home. This child has had multiple "goose eggs" on his head too.
He's a daredevil. He NEVER stops moving. In fact, he's now taken to watching TV, in a headstand position - on the couch. If he's not standing on his head, he's either jumping, flipping or running in place. It's insane. I wish I possessed his energy and inability to sit still. I'd be much thinner.
We keep saying we need to sign him up for gymnastics - this was more solidified, when, while at the grocery store, I found him hanging upside down from the handle on the shopping cart - it was one of those carts with the attached seat for two kids. He's a monkey. I call him that all the time.
This last week, has been especially difficult for little O. Poor boy. I, as a mother of three boys, had my first experience with a head wound that would NOT stop bleeding and stitches.
It took three of us to hold little man down and one doctor to "stitch" - at least that's what she called it. I'm not at all impressed with her "work", but at least it's not a gaping wound anymore!
We arrived at church early on Wednesday. A friend and I took our kids out to eat for dinner and when we got to church, I was taking the boys to the bathroom to wash their hands. I went in the door and I THOUGHT O was right behind me. I walked into the door, heard a THUD, and then howling. Poor boy was crying his little heart out.
I scooped him up and asked what happened - he couldn't stop crying long enough. S, told me that he'd ran into the edge of the bathroom door...WHAT?!?! Who runs into doors?!? Then I remembered that he is my child and I've done it too.
Blood was now draining from his head and after a quick blot, it was determined that stitches would be in order. I could tell, this was far from a trip for a simple "gluing" and steri strips or butterfly bandages weren't going to cut it.
Once, arrangements were made for the older two, O and I were off to the ER. Urgent Care wouldn't see him because it was a "head trauma" and they won't treat children with head wounds. Thankfully, I remembered hearing this and called, before going to one.
Once at the ER, the cut was cleaned a little better and we could get a better look...uh...yeah. It was FAR deeper than I thought at first. So deep in fact, that the doctor took a while to decide if two layers of stitces were needed. I asked her if the whitish yellow "pieces", I saw hanging out of the cut were what I thought they were. She assured me that I was correct and that they were indeed pieces of "subcutaneous tissue - or fat". YUCK!
They had difficulty getting O totally numb. I am not a squeamish person. I have a tough stomach when it comes to that stuff, but by the time they were done inserting the needles into his cut and holding him down for so long, I thought I might be sick. Thankfully, I was not.
He was stitched and good as new. He enjoyed his pack of licorice I let him get and was more than thrilled when I told him he didn't even have to share it with his brothers - he was SHOCKED to find out that the pack of licorice includes TWO BARS of yummy goodness and not just one!
Two days later, his head is healing nicely - lots of bruising and swelling, but all in all, it's doing well.
O, my monkey butt boy, fell of my friends couch and managed to hit his ear on the corner of the coffee table. He not only hit his ear - he managed to actually slit the upper cartilage and puncture it right through to the other side. We still aren't sure if this was an attempt to get his ear pierced, but either way - a wound to the ear, also bleed TREMENDOUSLY.
Thankfully, ears heal quickly and today it looks so much better!
I'm considering buying him a helmet and face mask. Perhaps I should wrap him in bubble wrap too...