Stitches

If you had to choose one of your children to fall and split their chin open, who would you choose? The oldest, a boy, who would be less likely to be affected by a scar on his face when he was older?#2, a drama mama, who is afraid of any drops of blood, because you think it would be good for her to realize that things will turn out okay? #3, the tough one, the one who didn't cry when she lost got shots, but instead gave the nurse an evil look, because you know she is the most likely to be brave? Or the baby, who is also the least likely trip and fall, because he can't even sit up yet, so how in the world could he trip and fall?

You'd pick #3? So would I. And lucky for me (but maybe not so lucky for you, because #1 and #2 probably would have made for a better story), it was Kyla. Here's the story: we were at a family reunion up in Heber this weekend and all the kids were playing. We had been there about an hour, so they were still interested in doing things besides annoying Jeff and me. We heard Kyla crying, and Jeff went over to see what was wrong. She had fallen on a big rock and was bleeding from her chin. After we got some of the blood cleaned up, it was pretty obvious that the cut, while not real big, was pretty deep, and she'd need stitches.

One of the benefits of having so many family members in health care is that someone not only usually has a suture kit, but also the ability to stitch up anything simple. But unfortunately, no one had a suture kit, not even the camp hosts. So, Jeff loaded Kyla up and drove her to Provo, calling his oral surgeon buddy, Mike Harris, on his way down. He drove her to Dr. Harris' office, where she got 4 shots of lidocaine and 5 stitches. He said she didn't cry at all, but at one point during the sutures said, "I felt that!" A couple of hours later, they returned to the reunion, where Kyla was extremely proud of her battle wound. And since she can't seem to keep a band-aid on it, she felt it her responsibility to keep it clean by soaking it in chocolate milk.

As a side note, look at how crowded her teeth are. Not a good sign for a 3 year old. Anyone know a good orthodontist?