First stitches

17 months, 2 days old and Luke has his first stitches.

Last night he was standing on his little kid chair at the counter helping me make dinner--as he does on many nights--when he slipped off the back and hit the bottom of his chin on the chair seat. I was standing about 6 inches away from him, yet couldn't catch him in time.

Keith had just walked in the door from work and thank goodness for that because four hands were needed.

I held pressure to Luke's bleeding chin, but the sight of the inch-long cut and the blood, mixed with the fact that I was upset seeing Luke hurt brought on a familiar reaction of extreme dizziness, hot sweats and nausea. I've had this type of vasovagal response before, once when having blood drawn, and all I can do is sit with my head between my knees for a few moments to snap out of it. So, Keith took over while I got my act together.

The good thing about having an in-house dermatologist is that you don't have to wait in the ER for someone who probably doesn't specialize in skin to sew up your child's wound. Since Keith didn't want to traumatize Luke further by being the guy with the needle, he tracked down one of the other derm surgeons--who is also our friend Payam--and we met her at the hospital right away, let ourselves into the closed derm clinic, and got to work on Luke right away.

We wrapped him in blankets to keep his limbs from flailing and I held his head. Getting the anesthetic was the worst part and after that he more or less held still for the stitching. He was a brave little guy. And since we had a skilled Mohs surgeon on the case, I'm sure it will heal nicely. The funny part is, I think any doctor is a little nervous working on the child of their colleague. As Payam was finishing up she said "what do you think Keith? I hope it comes out ok. I think this is the first time I've worked on an infant...wait..." (thinking) "...yup, it's the first time."

At that point we discovered that it was Payam's birthday and she'd left her own birthday dinner with family to help us out. We owe her one!

We were home less than an hour after the fall and Luke was in good spirits, likely because his chin was still numb and he was enjoying ice cream. This morning he is feeling the discomfort a bit more and trying to pull the bandage off his chin, but hopefully baby tylenol and lots of milk will settle him down. I think it's working already.

I guess this isn't a surprise since infant chin injuries run in my family. Both my brother and I cut our chins when we were a little older than Luke - mine was caused by falling off a radiator and Chris owes his to a tricycle called Ollie.

Of course now I'm watching Luke like a hawk, like I did when he first started walking. Security has been stepped up. Surely there will be more injuries in our future, and this one wasn't too bad, but it sure was upsetting for a first time Mom.

Well, I have to run... the little guy is already trying to climb on a table.