Brave Little Parker

Wednesday morning came, and Parker was absolutely thrilled to go to our weekly playgroup at the park with his best buds. Parker was swinging with a friend while I was sitting on a blanket with my friend Melissa. I've never needed to worry with Parker on the swings. He has swung on them hundreds of times and we have never had an issue with them, so I wasn't watching him closely. As I was talking to Melissa, Parker fell off the swing, face first into the wood chips below. My dear friend Corby was closer to him than I and was able to stand him up and brush him off a bit. He was crying, and walking towards me as I was trying to help him be brave by saying "It's ok, buddy, come get a love. You will be ok, you are a big boy." you know- what every mommy says when their child just tumbles lightly.  I gave him a hug, he pulled away, and then I noticed the blood everywhere. He was gushing quite a bit, and I was in complete shock. 

To this day, I am still bewildered by how quickly my game face came on, and was able to make decisions quickly without panicking too much. Within minutes which seemed like only seconds I was able to load Parker up into the car while he held a wipe (Thanks Corby) to his chin, arranged to leave Cambri at the park with my friends, called Matt to tell him what happened and to come get Cambri, grab our insurance info at home and meet us at the hospital. I swear I was superwoman.. or maybe there was just so much going on and inwardly I was panicking?? Anyways- I didn't start to lose my composure until we were almost to the hospital. Luckily Parker couldn't see me crying and thank goodness he had no idea that he was even bleeding. He was hurting, but by this point he had stopped crying and thought that there was paint on his chin. Such innocence. 

Parker ended up needing 8 stitches. He was really brave considering he wasn't completely numb when they started. I'm sure I'll encounter something like this again with my children, but I never want to. It was so incredibly hard to see my baby boy in so much pain, and screaming my name. I can't imagine what he must have been thinking when I was standing right there, and couldn't make him feel better; couldn't make that pain go away while they stitched him up.

 After the stitches were done, our nurse and doctor (who did awesome BTW) rewarded him with a toy monster truck, a sticker, and TWO popsicles. 

 When we got home, there was an adorable card and treat waiting for Parker from his best friend, Henson.  He was so thrilled when he found them.