Cool as a Habanero

One would think that after 4 months in the NICU the run of the mill medical mishaps of my children would be no big deal. After all, I saw Greyson with IV's coming out everywhere, tubes where there really should never be tubes and I even spent some time dealing with a portion of his intestines on the outside of his body. So a little blood and a little cut should be child's play, right....wrong.

Last night as I was making dinner the kids went upstairs to play their usual games of Japanese steakhouse and running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Then came the thud, the crash and the screams. Usain Bolt would have been left in the dust as I bounded upstairs to find Greyson sitting on the floor. I asked him what happened and he kindly ratted out his sister "Quinn pushed me off the bed." I picked him up to give him a big squeeze and then I saw it.....the blood. A lot of blood. I rushed him downstairs, got a paper towel and tried to wash it away and tried to find out where the hell it was coming from. At this point I don't know who was more terrified - me or Greyson. He was freaked out by the bloody paper towels and so was I. My mind was racing - do I take him to the ER, what do I do with Quinn?? I was thinking of where the LifeFlight helicopter was going to touch down in our neighborhood when I thought to call Raif. He told me he was three minutes away - I told him to be here in one. Now to be fair to myself (and at least show some redeeming qualities in all of this) by the time Raif got through the door I had managed to stop the bleeding enough to find the quarter inch gash in his head - not the six inch trench I had expected to find. So Raif had a better situation to deal with than I initially did. But my cool and collected husband rationally got Greyson to stop crying, found some liquid bandage and got the bleeding to stop.

Then of course came the next fear - the concussion. Once again Raif (as well as my mother) assured me that concussions come from hitting the back of your head or the temples not where Greyson had his cut. We sent him to bed and of course I was up all night worrying as my husband slept like a log.

Obviously, he was fine this morning. His head hurt a little and he asked for some Tylenol but was bright and chipper and ready to face the day. He obviously slept like a log too.

He has a nice bloody mass in his head - a mixture of blood and liquid bandage that we can't wash out until a nice scab forms. Ahhh, if only we were close to Halloween - he would already have a head start on a great costume.