Rite of Passage

At 4:25am on Thursday morning, Drew and I awoke to the cries of someone in pain – Jasper specifically.  We bolted out of bed, and seeing as I sleep on the side closer to the door, I made it to Jasper’s bedside first.  He was kneeling in his bed, with his knees nearly on the pillow.  I could see something was on his face, so I took him out of the room and, holding him with his head on my shoulder, asked Drew to tell me if he had a bloody nose.  Drew turned on some light and said “oh no, he has a shiner.” 

Right between his eyes, on the bridge of his nose, he had a cut.  We do not know what happened.  We can only speculate, but here is my theory:  He rose up in his sleep either to a sitting or standing position (as we have witnessed him to do) and moved some amount.  Then when he went to lay back down he smacked his head on the headboard. 

Thankfully the cut did not bleed much at all.  We put pressure on it with a cold pack, and Drew sat with him a while … seeing as how I actually got whoozy from the whole episode and had to pass him off before I passed out.  In a relatively short amount of time he calmed down and was sleepy enough to go back to sleep.  Seeing as how his wound was not bleeding, we put him down back in bed.  I thankfully fell back asleep.  Drew worried that he had suffered a concussion and lay awake some with regret about removing Jasper from our observation. 

In the morning Jasper slept in until 7:22 and came running out to the kitchen alert, refreshed and nary even giving me cause to think he’d been awake overnight, let alone injured.  After breakfast I cleaned his wound to examine the dimensions and sent Drew a photo: 

We decided to prevent as much scarring as possible, we’d take him to Dell Children’s Hospital for stitches.  Thankfully our neighbor Amanda was available to come stay with Benjamin, and truth be told the whole trip to Dell was as good as could be.  They are totally professional & efficient at Dell and supremely sensitive to caring for kids. 

We did not have to wait terribly long.  Dr. Mouw talked to us about our options, and we opted for calming medicine administered via nasal spray and then restraint while he stitched Jasper (as opposed to putting him under).  They took good care of Jasper, and while I still do not understand why they did not have him close his eyes for the stitches, Dr. Mouw was able to get them in and get Jasper all taken care of.  The stitching took maybe 6-7min.  Jasper started to get upset almost right away when he had to be restrained (by the nurse and me) and when Dr. Mouw needed to tilt his head back.  We could keep him pretty still … until he started kicking his legs (his only loose appendage).  Drew was holding my iPhone above him for him to watch Cars as a distraction.  But that was pointless.  Once everything started, he was too distracted with not liking things to even notice the movie.  So, live and learn.  Next time he needs stitches on his face, just blindfold him. 

Photos from the time at Dell 

in the waiting room:

 

with numbing gell on his wound:

looking at Mr. Matt’s glitter wand while the numbing gell took effect.  Mr. Matt explained all about the procedure, showed him the tools what would be used, explained what his job was going to be (to hold his head still), and assessed Jasper’s mental stated to let us and the doctor know how he’d do for the stitches.

 

after the stitches, ready to hit the truck aisle at Target for being a brave boy: 

 

after his afternoon nap, for which he slept soundly:

Friday afternoon, bright eyed:

and kinda scary-looking:

Saturday on our hike (sunglasses are the one thing he can’t wear right now.  they hurt his wound.)

 

Sunday night, the rainbow of colors is setting in:

I told Drew on Sunday that each time I looked at Jasper on Saturday I had a hard time not thinking of him as Herman Munster’s son. 

Not once since the event has Jasper complained about his wound.  He wasn’t himself the following morning (Friday) when he stayed home with a babysitter, but that seemed to clear up after his nap.  Since then he’s really been just himself – a really great kid!