Life as a Yowler

Warning: do not read this if you are squeamish and nervous about blood or injuries.

Today was a traumatic day for all of us, but mostly for poor little Isla.

This morning I had all the kids up at he playground. Brandon had just left with the van for his store training. Papaw Bill was back at the RV getting himself ready for the day. It all happened so fast, but Caed was swinging on this metal swing. Isla ran right up behind him. I had my back turned, but I was right there. I heard a huge smack then heard screaming. Then I saw this.

This is where the warning comes in. The poor baby was hurt bad. I rushed her back to the motor home to get her cleaned up and see how deep her cut was. Papaw Bill saw me come in with her. We realized it was pretty deep. We rushed her up to the camp office and asked them what to do. I told them I had no vehicle because Brandon had our van. The camp owner said she was going to call the squad.

I could not even believe their response time. The first responders showed up in, no joke, less than two minutes. The ambulance was behind them by only around 10 minutes.

They were all so nice and helpful. They were very compassionate. They checked her over and took all her vitals. By that point Brandon said he was almost back to camp. The paramedics said there was no reason medically to transport her to the hospital in the ambulance. They wouldn’t be doing any life saving measures, since she wasn’t unconscious and was acting normal. They recommended driving her to San Antonio Children’s hospital right away.

I’ve got to be honest, I did not have a great feeling about an ER in a huge city. I thought we were looking at hours and hours. Honestly this hospital was amazing. They had her head wrapped within 10 minutes. They got us in immediately.

They had two different doctors look at her. The goal was to avoid stitches. Since it was right between the eyes and because of her age, they would need to put her to sleep for stitches. The final decision was to glue it.

They brought in two child behavior experts during the glueing process. They turned her favorite wiggles song on for her. I could not believe how well they got her to cooperate. They kept her calm and she held still. I told them they might as well take over parenting for me, because they were amazing.

Good as new!

They gave her a popsicle to try to keep her from scratching at her head. They told us to keep a very close eye on her behavior, but she will most likely keep acting totally fine. The hardest thing is going to be keeping her out of the pool for a week and keeping sunscreen off of her. We are planning to go to Sea World tomorrow, so a sun hat it is!

I’m so so thankful for a good outcome. I’m also so thankful Brandon’s dad is here and was able to stay with the other kids. He has been so helpful. Caed felt so terrible. He was crying and yelling “I’m sorry Isla. I’m sorry.” I made sure to talk to him before we left for the hospital. I told him it’s NOT his fault and he didn’t need to feel bad. I know he would never hurt her on purpose. I also talked to Joah. He was very shook up. He almost puked when he saw all the blood and he was very weepy and worried about his baby sister. It actually made me feel good to see his compassionate side. Brielle on the other hand, did not quit feeding the squirrels(her latest obsession) during the entire ordeal. There’s a chance she isn’t even aware of what happened. We will probably return to camp to hear her say “where were you guys?” I love that girl and her “in her own world” ness!

Like I said, I’m so thankful she wasn’t hurt worse. Thank you Lord for your protection!

As a small side note….our basement has also had a hard day. My dad discovered today that it flooded. Looks like we will be managing two crises from the road. I know it could be much worse, so I am trying to be thankful through it all.