To the ER....again

So we spent another day in the ER...this time with Jacob. Usually it's Matthew's job to go to the ER. Here's the scoop - lots of details most people wont' care about, but I want to remember. Some are nasty. And I don't have time to edit.
I was sitting on my bed, feeding the baby. The boys were running around, being boys. Matthew had just come into my room, for some reason that I can no longer recall. Jacob went running into his room and next thing I know, I hear his door slam. That's a totally normal sound to hear. He was just playing around. But right after that he comes running into my room screaming, "BLOOD!!! BLOOD!!" His finger was dripping blood all over. I pretty much threw the baby on the bed, hopped up, grabbed a towel and looked at it. At that point it was bleeding and looked purple. I couldn't tell the extent of the injury, but I could tell it looked bad. So many thoughts were going through my head (I would have expected to handle an emergency better...aren't people supposed to go into a mode where they get things done well and then crash later? Well, I didn't. I panicked.) I couldn't decide whether I should call 911, go to the ER, go the pediatrician, and whether I should call first. I called the Dr., kind of asking what to do. They said to come in. So luckily my wonderful neighbor, Shannon, was home. I ran the baby over there, threw him at her with a diaper and wipes. I had told Matthew to get his shoes on right before I walked out the door. I left Jacob standing with a towel on his hand (a nice on, unfortunately was the first thing I found! Oh well...) and he was screaming his head off ("BOO BOO!!! BOO BOO!!!"). When I got back from running the baby over, Matthew comes at me with a juice box he found, asking if he could have it. I pretty much freaked out, started yelling (aka panicking some more) and after he still wouldn't hurry to get his shoes on, I made him walk over bare foot. Yes, it's December. Bad mom. I locked the door, carrying Jacob, closed it, and went to the car in the driveway. Grabbing the keys would have been a good idea. Again, bad move, mom. Luckily we have a garage code and I got in to get the keys. I mostly buckled him in his seat (it was hard to get him in with his finger wrapped up and both of us freaking out!). I sped down Winton Road, going very fast, praying there were no cops anywhere. It's pouring. I'm calling tons of people, none of which are answering. Poor David, I left a pretty scary message. I was sobbing, saying I didn't know what to do and that I was afraid his finger was going to fall off. I wasn't in a condition to censor my word selection. I get to the doctor - I was a total hysterical mess, pretty much. I can handle broken bones all day long, but the finger hanging on by a small piece of skin, that was hard to handle. And I didn't handle it well! I walked into the doctors office, said I why I was there, explained the situation. They wanted his insurance info...I asked if we could take care of that later ;) Which was fine. I sat and waited in the office, for what felt like an eternity, but was really probably just a couple minutes. My amazing father-in-law, Russ, thankfully works right across the street and came over. He was able to be a second set of hands, and help keep me and Jacob from flipping out. I finally got ahold of David then. They took us back to the room. The nurse looked at it and cleaned it out. I was able to just hold Jacob, who was still screaming. I held his head to my chest, while I was looking the other way, and sang Jesus Loves Me over and over and over and over. I didn't know what else to do to comfort him. We then waited for what, again, felt like an eternity. Dr. Bird,  who we have always loved so much, took a look at it and said, "This is going to take a lot of work. We're going to send you down to Children's. It's partially amputated." Amputated...I didn't need to hear that. I was already struggling. So they wrapped it with a wash cloth and we hit the road. Russ drove and I rode in the back, holding his finger. He fell asleep in the car, which scared me. I was afraid he passed out. I poked him in the side to make sure he was still okay. He cried...good. Russ dropped me off at the emergency room door. They took us straight back. I guess if your injury is bad enough, they take you straight back - at least that's our experience with our last two visits! The broken arm got us back right away too! ;) So we went to triage. Nothing exciting to report there. One funny moment, though, was right after they gave him Tylenol, he said, in between sobs, "I need to brush my teeth!!". I guess he wasn't a fan of the medicine. They moved us to another room, we saw various people come in and out. I still couldn't look at it. One quote I remember was, "I can see the bone." Cringe. Every time they made us move, I carried him, but I was afraid if I bumped his hand wrong his finger would fall off. It was that bad. I have vivid pictures in my mind of it just barely hanging on, right around the bottom of his finger nail. I'm afraid they will haunt me in my sleep. We eventually were sent to x-ray. By that time David had arrived. He took over holding Jacob - I had to feed the baby, who he had brought down. The end of his bone was broken a little. But they weren't worried about it. It will heal. When the ER doctor (well, resident) came in, it was the same doctor we saw just seven weeks ago with Matthew. What are the odds?! I'm sure we look like great parents! ;) Both he, and another plastic surgeon/orthopedic came to stitch him up. They were able to do it with just local anesthetic. He cried for a couple minutes when they gave him those shots. The doctor complimented how well he did with the shots. He said he has had linebackers who you could hear down the hall. But once it was numb, he just sat and watched them do it. Russ was able to watch (again, thank goodness he was there!) David made some glances. I sat behind the doctor so that I couldn't see a thing! It only took two or three stitches. They "tacked" his finger nail back on. It will fall off, they said. But 99% of the time it grows back. It might take 9 months. They wrapped it nicely. He has a very large green bandage on his finger. His bandage is about the size of his forearm. It reminds me of when a cartoon character hits their thumb with a hammer and it gets enormous. It's that big. Then we waited some more. Papa's android phone saved the day. Jacob was navigating the phone very nicely by himself. He was coloring and shooting turkeys and laughing. They gave him some ibuprofen right around then. Then, the shot of antibiotics. Wow. It looked like she had to push the injection hard to get it in the muscle. He screamed for a long time, writhing around in pain - rolling on his hand! That was miserable for quite awhile. They had to hold off giving him his Tylenol with codine because they were afraid he was going to throw up. But eventually he was back to shooting turkeys on the phone. Eventually we were discharged.

So we left. Jacob decided he wanted chicken nuggets. He hadn't eaten since breakfast, and it was around 4pm. We went through McDonald's and got him a happy meal (a treat in our house) He just wanted the chicken. He wanted to get chocolate milk for Matthew (comes into the story later). He stayed awake the whole way home. Part way home he says, "I had fun at the doctor today!" in a happy voice. Fun? I don't call the day fun! ;) He also realized he never got a sticker at the doctor. Oh the things they think of...so after we dropped Papa off at work, we went and got our sticker. They let us have more than one. And he picked a sucker. His favorite color is green. He picked one with a green wrapper, but was later disappointed to find out that the actual sucker was red (watermelon...tricky!)

We are now home. Phew. I offered him something to drink, offering the chocolate milk, but he was so set on making sure Matthew got it. So thoughtful.

So, some blessings amongst the craziness:
1. The baby slept 10 hours last night. God knew I needed rest before the day.
2. Christy, our pastor's wife, had already arranged to bring us dinner tonight, just because of the baby. Again, a God thing.
3. Russ, who was able to spend the day with us, taking time off work.
4. A neighbor who was there to keep my kids.
5. my mom who kept Matthew
6. Rebecca, who took Matthew out tonight
7. countless people who prayed - prayer chains to let people know
8. Friends to  be there for me on the phone, and who offered to do anything for us.
9. Jacob saying, "No, thank you" in between sobs after his shot when offered a drink
10. An amazing hospital to be able to go to
11. Insurance
12. David's parents who came to help us relax tonight
13. medicine
14. pacifiers and blankies
15. a baby who rolled with the punches nicely
16. the finger is reattached, not gone
17. It's just a finger!
18. A husband who could make Jacob laugh while his finger was being cleaned out by playing with the soap dispenser. And who thinks of every little thing we could need to make sure we are taken care of. Who runs to kroger several times in one night. Who goes back to get string cheese for Jacob even though he's already in the check out line. Who makes me feel like I have every right to be exhausted and to complain of a bad night even though he's just as tired. I could go on and on....
19. Jacob who said "God healed my boo boo." about his leg, where he got his shot of antibiotics (was really painful!)
20. That I don't have to change the bandage.
I know I had other ones I wanted to put...I'll remember them later.

Hopefully we're in for a good night's sleep! For those of you that pray, pray for good rest, pray for his pain, healing without infection, and just the three year old who learns how to get around with a gimpy hand. And just pray for the well being of our family in general. We've had a rough couple months, with things going on that most people don't know! We're hanging tough, but must admit, we're drained.