The Face Plant

Yesterday we had quite the scare at our house.

It all went down during a frantically busy morning.  The normally complex routine of breakfast/teeth brushing/dressing/shoe finding/hair doing was even more difficult than usual.  I had to get Chloe off to school by the normal time, but I also had to have the other three girls ready to be out the door for Piper's appointment for CBM testing at the school.  That meant packing snacks, toys, books and getting everyone buckled in the car on top of everything else.  So yeah, we were a whirl of activity.  I was managing my time pretty well and decided I could squeeze in a quick rinse in the shower for myself (such a luxury, eh?) after all.  Right as I was getting in, Piper burst in to say hello (I often get visitors while I'm in the bathroom.  I bet some day I will miss that) and I reminded her to run downstairs to grab her sweatshirt.  A few seconds later I heard a crash and Piper start to cry.  I sighed.  Again, this is nothing unusual.  All sorts of crazy things happen when I'm indisposed.  Piper tends to crash into things a lot, too, so I wasn't exactly panicked at this point.  I heard her scream that her nose was bleeding.  The cries intensified at that point.  Still, I wasn't too concerned because "bleeding" is a relative term in this house.  I've seen people get hysterical and require several band aids over the tiniest pinprick of the red stuff.  I grabbed my towel and stepped out onto the bathmat just as Piper burst into the bathroom.  I was entirely unprepared for the sight of her face.  I almost fainted.

Her face was covered in blood.  With each heartbeat, a new spurt gushed from her nose.  Her clothes, the floor, even the wall were spattered.   Being the mother of four girls as opposed to four boys, I'm not used to massive bleeding head injuries (just the psychological ones they inflict on each other by kicking each other out of their "clubs" formed for the specific purpose of excluding a sister who has annoyed another!).  I've never seen one of my kids bleed like that.  I threw on my bathrobe and tried to wipe away some of the blood while Piper explained (between screams and sobs) that she had tripped down the last two steps.  She face planted on the concrete floor of the basement.  At that point she glanced at herself in the mirror and gasped in shock.  I moved her out of the bathroom at that point and tried to explain to her (and myself!) that it looked worse than it probably was.

I got the bleeding under control after a few minutes.  It was starting to bruise and swell, so I settled her on the couch with an ice pack.  At that point I realized three things:  her nose could very well be broken, there was no way we were going to make her testing appointment in 15 minutes (and even if I could, she was in no shape for it), and that she had dance pictures that evening.  I also realized that I was shaking.

First things first.  I took a deep breath and formulated a plan of action.  I needed some help to cover everything.  I called Carter and told him what happened and that I needed him to call the school to let them know we wouldn't be there for our appointment while I figured out if I needed to get Piper medical attention.  Next, I phoned my mother.  I ALWAYS phone my mom for medical advice.  She's a genius!  We discussed the injury and how Piper looked.  We decided that I should call my pediatrician to see what to do before rushing off to an urgent care center.  I'm glad I did that.  The nurse explained over the phone that even if Piper's nose were broken, it would take a day or two for the swelling to go down before we could figure it out and treat it.  She said I should bring Piper in after that time period if things still looked bad.  Still not completely satisfied, I took to Facebook to see if my doctor and nurse friends had any tips on what to do.

Sadie watched all of this go down.  I was amazed by how composed she was.  She sat by Piper to keep her calm during the initial stages of treatment and all the phone calls.  When I was ready to take over tending to Piper after speaking with all the experts, she said, "Mommy, I'm going to wipe all the blood off the floor!"  She took a tub of Clorox wipes and did just that.  Thank goodness, because I really was feeling faint at that point (remember, I don't do well with blood and hello, I had to give up my breakfast for that three minute shower).  I was so glad I had Sadie.  That kid is just incredible in an emergency. 

Things calmed down.  Piper kept the ice pack on her nose and cheered up after I got her a bowl of ice cream.  She rested on the couch for a couple of hours.  I could see she had some serious rug burn on her face, but the bruising wasn't so bad.  The bridge of her nose was totally straight.  I began to feel all those plastic surgery bills I had been imagining all morning weren't going to be necessary after all.   

After a nice shower, plenty more cartoons, and a few games of Uno, Pipes decided she felt well enough to go to her dance pictures.  I did what I could to cover the injured face with cosmetics (hey, she was required to wear blush and lipstick anyway.  Why not go all out?)  and off we went.  She was so cute posing for the photographer.  She regaled everyone who would listen with the story of how her "nose exploded."  The teacher marveled at my cover-up job and said nobody would notice.  Looking at the other dancers on her team, I noticed lots of bruised legs and scratched faces.  It must be the age.  Piper wouldn't be the stand-out team member after all.

So yes, this day will be preserved forever in the dance pictures.  But I think my favorites will be the ones I snapped myself of the poor patient and her sweet little caretaker.

Piper looked completely fine when she woke up this morning.  I'm also thankful that while little noses bleed a lot after face plants on concrete, they're flexible enough not to break!