A Sad First

Yesterday was definitely a first for Lela but certainly not one that you hope will ever happen. We had to take her to the ER after she fell and bit her tongue. Apparently her new habit of climbing on everything imaginable proved more dangerous than I let myself comprehend. She had climbed into the window sill in the living room and fell out. Luckily Nathan had just walked in the door to come home for lunch or I would have been a basket-case.

I realize a bit tongue doesn't sound serious but after 30 minutes of soaking countless Kleenexes with blood we realized we had to do something. Of course by the time we got to the ER and checked in and Lela decided to interrupt her constant screaming with a laugh and a smile for the woman behind the counter, the bleeding stopped completely. That's just the way it goes I guess.

We were mainly concerned because it was clear that the majority of the blood was coming from the underside of her tongue and she wouldn't let us see it so we didn't know how serious of a cut it was. Of course by the time they examined her I don't think they were too concerned considering the lack of blood so they didn't even make an effort to look under the tongue. We were sent home with a pile of paperwork (including a nice bill), a prescription for antibiotics, and two orange popsicles. Apparently they don't do stitches on tongues and again with no blood present I think we win the award for most paranoid parents of the year!

But looking back, I don't know that we would've done things differently. All in all she bled for a good 45 minutes and if that doesn't say emergency, then I don't know what does. Lela's constant screaming (whether from pain or sheer drama) certainly added to the severity, at least in my mind.

So I think the only thing to do is end the this post with some happy pictures of Lela to represent her general disposition and to prove she's doing just fine 24 hours later.