First Stitches

Well, Rachel wins the family prize for being the first child to get stitches! I guess we've been very lucky it hasn't been necessary before now! 10 years of child-raising and 4 kids later ... of course, it had to happen when Daddy was out of town - - and right at bedtime.

Rachel slipped off the kitchen table's bench (we do benches at our house - no chairs for kids at the table!) and bonked the corner of her lower lip on the bench during her fall. It was split apart pretty wide and bleeding heavily. Once I started thinking clearly, I realized that I needed to HURRY to make it to the after-hours pediatrics clinic before it closed and I'd have to go to the E.R. (not, NOT what I wanted to do!). Luckily a neighbor hurried over to stay with Carlie and Caleb and put them to bed, and Chandler came with me to be a big helper - keeping the ice on Rachel while we drove, carrying stuff for me, etc. We all survived the ordeal. Rachel got 3 stitches - which I tried to photograph the next morning (you can barely see them in the picture ... I should've taken a "before" picture to do the wound justice!).