Livvie's Chin

(Two new posts below) We have had a fractured elbow and a hematoma on spring breaks of the past, but this accident takes the cake. We were going to take Lucky on a walk and the girls wanted to ride their scooters...like we do all the time. They both had on tennis shoes. They both had on helmets. We were going to go up our street and loop around like we always do. Livvie was ahead of me and Bella was behind me. As we rounded the corner, Liv fell. She was spread out like Superman and she yelled, "Mommy!" I ran to her and she said, "I think I broke my teeth." I picked her up and what I saw made me weak in the knees. Her chin was split open...a lot. I quickly held her chin together and tried to call Andy, no answer. I called my mom, no answer. I called my dad...they answered and I asked them what I should do. They said they would meet me at the emergency room. I asked Bella to take the scooters and the dog as we quickly walked home. We finally ditched the scooters so we could go faster. Bella ran in the house for me and grabbed a towel and an ice pack. I was so panicked, so shaky as we headed to the ER. Olivia never cried when this whole thing happened. She must have been in shock. Once we got to the ER she (and Bella) started to cry. She was so scared because she didn't know what they were going to do to her. Grandma, who worked in the medical field for 12 years, told her what to expect. This helped a lot to calm Livvie's nerves. They called us back to the triage area and saw us right away. The doctor, who is a father of an 8 year old girl as well, was gentle and kind to her. He told her it was okay to cry, but to use her words to tell him if she was scared or hurting. He told her that the shot would hurt for about 10 seconds, but that after that her chin would be numb. The doctor told Olivia everything he was doing so that she would be the least scared as possible. Boy did we get the right guy for my baby! As they began the shots, Livvie did cry. It was so gruesome that both Andy and I had to look away. Her chin was open to the bone and the tissue was hanging out of her face. That was the longest 10 seconds of my life. As they began stitching inside her face, thank GOD she could not feel anything. At one point Andy put his head between his legs and I mouthed to him, "If you faint, I WILL kill you." Is there anything worse than seeing your kid in pain? I am eternally gratefull that she couldn't feel the stitches being put in...7 inside her chin...12 outside...for a grand total of 19 stitches! She was so still while the doctor worked that he actually thought she fell asleep. When the doctor was finished Olivia's comment was, "Mommy, I was such a good girl! I didn't scream or kick anyone or anything!" We all remember The Great Dentist Debacle of 2009. I laid with Olivia that night but couldn't sleep a wink. Everytime I closed my eyes I saw her chin when I picked her up. It was awful. Just awful. The next day Olivia couldn't talk or eat. She sat on the couch all day. When she did talk she said, "Mommy, I'm so sad. Why did this have to happen?" Everyday, though, she gets better and better. She will have her stitches out tomorrow and hopefully start feeling back to normal. It has been an incredibly tough week for everyone, but I keep telling myself, "It could have been so much worse." Everyone has been so kind to us offering to bring frozen yogurt, ice cream , or even buying her a pony! ;)I feel lucky to have so much love around me and my girls!

Her swollen little face...

This is what 19 stitches looks like!