Mommy, Rose is bleeding

I had big plans for yesterday. I was going to put my two-and-a-half year old down for a morning nap so I could finish packing for our Sunriver trip later that day, get a little writing done and play with my older two kids. I put Rose down for her nap and headed downstairs. When the crying started fifteen minutes later, I sent my oldest upstairs to tell Rosie that it was naptime. What happened next is still a blur.

I'm not sure how fast I made it up the stairs yesterday when I heard Rose was bleeding. Seconds later I was staring at a child covered from head to toe in red. The only thing on her face I could see where her blue eyes. She kept pointing to her knee, which was covered in blood, too.

As I washed her off, I managed to call my husband. The call went something like "Rose is covered in blood. She has to go to the hospital. Come home. Now."

I finally figured out that the cut wasn't on her knee but on her face, between her eyebrows. When you hear that head wounds bleed a lot, it's true.

My five year old son was upset his bed was covered in blood. My seven year old couldn't stop crying. Me? I just wanted the bleeding to stop and kept thinking I should have put her down in her crib not her brother's bed.

Rose needed three stitches. Not that many considering the amount of blood. They gave her something to make her loopy so the suturing went smoothly. We were on our way to Sunriver only an hour and half late. While Rose slept during the drive, I tried to write on my Alphasmart. I couldn't. I tried to brainstorm my book. I couldn't. I tried to sleep. I couldn't even do that.

We arrived in Sunriver, a resort community in Central Oregon. Rose seemed to be fine. I was the one suffering now. I was surrounded by family all of who had questions and comments. You mean, you didn't call a plastic surgeon in to stitch her. Just think if she would have hit her eye instead. Scars can be cool. Needless to say, all I wanted to do was hold onto my baby and have a good cry.

Tomorrow, I thought, everything will be back to normal. And then this morning we had to call the hospital. A stitch had come out. We ended up at a local hospital in Bend. They taped the missing suture. We were done.

Still no writing. I decided to take another day off. Mommy-guilt-trauma-whatever. So we napped and then went bike riding to a playground. All twelve of us. My family, my sister's family and my brother-in-law. The vacation had truly begun. I only hope tomorrow, the writing returns! And that the remaining sutures stay put.