Stitches

Stitches. We avoided you for almost five whole years, but alas we needed you.

On Monday Cam, Jack, and Ben were jumping and wrestling on our bed until I heard a thump which led to the "This isn't a drill Mom" shrill screaming. It wasn't hard to locate the injury because I could see blood pooling in his mouth. His teeth went all the way through, leaving a not-so-awful looking cut on the outside but a pretty ugly one on the inside. The picture doesn't do it justice because I was trying really hard to be careful about tugging on it.

Honestly though, I thought, "Well, that's going to be annoying for him until it heals, but probably not much we can do." Mom P took some pictures for me to send to Jayce just so that he could weigh in. He had just started a new rotation though and I had no idea when he'd be able to check his phone. I thought he would just say, "Oh man, what a bummer" anyways though and sent it more so just wanting him to be in the loop. There's just something comforting about having Jayce's stamp of approval on these things. :)

Over the next hour I tried to get him to keep an ice pack on it and J & B wanted to take a bath, so I got them ready for that. Right after I had put them in Jayce got back to me and let me know that he probably should get stitches and that the doctor he was with had offered to do it, but I needed to be down there in about 40 minutes. So off to the races we were!

Reasons why it was the best possible day for him to need stitches:

1. My mother-in-law was home for the day (which is unique for her busy schedule) which meant that I didn't need to scramble like a mad woman trying to get the twins from the bath to ready in ten minutes with a very sad and needy Cameron at the same time.
2. Jayce had just started a rotation with an ophthalmologist who specializes in plastics. Basically, he does a lot of different plastic surgery procedures on the face, from eye lid lifts, to nose jobs, to chin tucks. He saw Jayce's reaction to the pictures we sent and offered to do it right away because he had a free chunk in his schedule coming up. He was so kind. 
3. Having this doctor offer to do it meant that we got to go to his private practice where he received the royal treatment. Everyone was calm and so kind, Cameron was practically sitting in the throne of patient chairs, and Dad was there for that extra calming touch. Plus, a plastic surgeon did the stitches, I mean what more could we have asked for?

I think the set up leant to Cameron doing so wonderfully. He didn't cry or even flinch for any of the numbing shots they did in his mouth and then the stitches were a breeze. I was amazed and soooo grateful for the relaxing atmosphere. I fully acknowledged that we were very spoiled. So nice to have that as our first stitches experience. The doctor offered to let Jayce do it too, but Jayce really wanted the chance to watch and learn from someone so well trained in stitching.

 Here are the afters:

It got really swollen for the next two days, but Jayce and I couldn't help laughing a little because every time he spoke he kind of reminded us of Mary in Hocus Pocus:

He also randomly told Ben and Jack during bath time this morning, "When I went to the doctor he painted me ORANGE!" That was from the Betadine (disinfectant) that the doctor put all over his lower face. They told him they were painting him like a pumpkin. :)

Also overheard from Cameron in the bath tub, "You guys I just peed!!" Gross. So gross.