2mm

Well, no words today and for good reason...

This morning I was vacuuming in the living room. The kids were playing around, their usual a.m. Nikko was lying tummy down on the couch near the armrest, watching TV. He can easily crawl/leap over the armrest, and has been crashing into the couch and walls for the past three days. I'm not sure how but he was scooting off the couch, lost his balance and his chin hit the striped ottoman at the base of the couch. The vacuum was off, and I heard a slight CRUNCH on impact. Then Nikko started to cry/scream. I worried that maybe he knocked one of his upper teeth out, so I tried to wobble them but they were stable. Then the blood started welling around his bottom teeth. I saw a dark mound on the inner lip and ran him into the kitchen for a paper towel. Audrey was underfoot and started crying to add to the mix. When I looked at the lip after soaking up some blood, I saw a small gash in the soft part of the inner lip and it was bleeding a lot. I tried to put an icepack on it but Nikko wouldn't have it. I started moaning that we might have to go to the ER, so I called Atz. She said she'd come over for the babies and that I should call the pediatrician for instructions. While I did, Nikko was crying really hard but I held him close. Audrey continued to follow us, wailing. I found a pacifier for her and tried to plug her up. When I got the ped office, they gave me to the nurse who could barely hear me because two kids were screaming. I had to release Nikko and grab Audrey, shoved the paci in her mouth and put her in the pack n' play in our bedroom. Time for her morning nap, slightly early. She protested, but in the end she caved in. Meanwhile Nikko had scampered to the Thomas chairs in front of the mirrored corner and had his burp cloth in his mouth. The bleeding had stopped. I couldn't really tell how long the gash was, and muttered that it looked like 2 cm. "Is it 2mm or 2cm? Because 2 cm equals an inch," the nurse asked calmly. I wasn't really feeling calm, and said I didn't have a ruler on me but could try to estimate it. I also got flustered because she threw some math at me right in the middle of things. (I was really pissed right then because while she was probably supposed to be calm in every situation, she sounded annoying and condescending to me, even though she most likely was not trying to be.) Luckily the little Black & Decker tool box I just gave to Nikko two days ago was sitting nearby and it had a ruler on the handle, so I could see that 2mm was more appropriate. Then I was shocked to hear that 2mm doesn't require a suture. I didn't mean to sound haughty, but I did ask the nurse, "Can you please tell me then what does apply for a suture?" "We're looking at an inch or even half an inch." Nikko's gash was not half an inch, which, when I looked at the ruler, had never seemed so big a length until today, lucky for us. The nurse rambled on about how Nikko should be ok soon, give him tylenol for the pain, don't let him drink citrusy liquids or anything that might irritate the wound, and don't put any neosporin on it. She sounded like she was reading from a book, so I said, "Yeah, sure, ok, thanks a lot. All right. Good bye." And I hung up, mad that I couldn't bring Nikko anywhere to see anybody, and that I was supposed to do nothing while he was laying on the floor in pain, crying, and in a little bit of shock. I comforted him as best I could, hugging him and letting him put that burb cloth to his lips. I tried ice again, I tried a wet, cold washcloth, but he wouldn't let me. He let me give him some chocolate milk, which might have helped soothe his lip. Then I sat down on the kitchen stool and heaved sobs because I felt so bad for Nikko, because Audrey had been crying too, and that I couldn't seem to make anything better. I tried not to let him see the tears in my eyes, so I straightened up and regained my composure. I put in the Cars DVD and that calmed Nikko while making Ronin extra happy.

For the rest of the day, Nikko kept touching his mouth, probably poking at the wound with his tongue, wrapping his lips inward around his teeth. Lucky for us, the tooth didn't go all the way through, but the area under his lip was turning purple, probably some trauma from what was hurting behind it. Nikko fell asleep later on when Denis came home, around 3:30, so I was able to run to Costco for some much needed stuff. When I came back, Nikko was awake so I gave him a bowl of ice cream since the nurse mentioned giving him popsicles to help soothe the lip. OK, I don't hate her. But I didn't even get a follow-up phone call regarding Nikko's status. Booo! After all the kids were awake and semi-snacked, Denis took the boys outside first to help wash the Civic. When Audrey and I made it outside, I saw that the boys abandoned their fence dirt-playing ways and were totally into the sudsy bucket. Nikko was in good spirits, and loved the sprinkler hose attachment. It was quite a cleanup for the boys, but then they didn't need a bath before bedtime. I am really surprised that with all the crashing Nikko has been doing for the past three days, which has been accompanied by his hysterical laughter, he hasn't hurt himself more than the gash today. I am thanking my lucky stars for that. And thanking the angel on his shoulder for making the gash smaller than a half inch.