ER

Last week Dallin and Eden were playing in the back yard. They got shovels out of the shed and got busy digging a hole. A few minutes later, Dallin came running in the house crying. I guess his face had accidentally gotten in the way of Eden's digging. My mothers intuition kicked in and I already knew that it was going to be a stitches incident before I even saw him. Funny how that happens, I was already prepared to stay calm. I came running and met Dallin in the kitchen and saw his hand covering his eye and I could see that there was blood. I lifted his hand to see a really gnarly gash on his eye lid and brow. Peter was home working on a bid, which is a rare thing so I quickly handed Dallin some tissue to hold on his cut and rushed him out the door. We got to the urgent care in less than 5 minutes, but because of where the cut was they said we had to go to an ER. I was a little bummed because with our new insurance the Urgent care copay is $20 and the ER is $250! I decided to try another urgent care that was on the way to the hospital just in case, but they turned us away as well. So we headed over to St. Vincents. Dallin tried to convince me that he was okay because he was scared about going to the hospital. I told him what it would be like and he calmed down a bit.

When we got there, they took us right back to the pediatric ER. The nurse person was this HUGE guy with lots of tatoos and shaved head. I told Dallin that this nice guy was going to help us out. Dallin proceeded to talk his ear off. He told the guy that he and his sister were digging a hole in the yard so that they could have a lake to fish in. Huge nurse dude thought that made a lot of sense. In our little room, I changed Dallin into a little gown and he watched Cartoon Netwook for 2 hours. Every nurse that came in to check on him fell in love with him because he would talk to them nonstop and was being really cute.

As we sat there we had a really cute conversation:

Dallin: Mom, what are mountains made out of?
Me: Rocks and dirt.
I could see wheels turning in his little head.
Dallin: What holds the mountains up?
Me: Well, rocks are really strong so they do.
More wheels turning for a couple of minutes
Dallin: Do we have any rocks?
I can see where this is going now
Me: Yes, why?
Dallin: I want to build a big mountain in our yard.
Me: Oh, I see. Why?
Dallin: Because it snows in the mountains.
I explained that we don't have enough rocks or room for that kind of project. Plus, where would we put the new playhouse that he and daddy were going to build?
Dallin: Well, how about just a hill then?
Me: Okay.
Dallin: Maybe we could build a little mountain and then the playhouse on top of it. Then we could slide down the mountain.
Me: We'll see buddy.
Apparently a little shovel to the face action doesn't deter this guy from back yard projects.

The doctor finally came in and he was such a brave little guy. He got 4 stitches and the cut looked so much better after that. Just a few minutes later we were on our way home. The next morning, his eye was almost swollen shut so he got a free day off from school.




I am so grateful, this could have been so much worse. It was also a blessing that Peter was home at the time.