Not the Last Time

Earlier this week we ended up at the doctor's office for an urgent, unexpected appointment.

It had already been a long day. We had all gone in to the chiropractor since Hubby had a pinched nerve in his neck. The consult and appointment took much longer than anticipated so it was nearly dinnertime by the time we were heading home. We toyed with the idea of going out to eat, but, given our recent misadventures getting pho and the fact that we are trying very hard to stick to our budget, we decided against it. We had spaghetti sauce in the refrigerator and just needed to boil some noodles anyway.

As Hubby started getting dinner ready I went out and tried to make room in our garbage and recycle bins for this week's stuff. We didn't get a pick-up last week because of the snow and we downgraded our garbage service late last year, so it was a tight squeeze.

I came back inside and heard Beanie screaming. Like screaming, crying, and gagging. She has been extra emotional lately so this isn't all out of the ordinary, but my first thought was, What the hell is going on? Hubby said they had been having a hard time sharing and were working at taking turns on the trampoline. I went over to the playroom and Beanie was on the trampoline, holding her head, and crying. Bubby was throwing play tea cups and dishes at her. I hollered at him to stop while I washed off my garbage-y hands and told Beanie to come over. As I walked toward her I saw it.

A huge goose egg above her left eye. It had swollen up quite immediately. It was already all shades of purple and red. Apparently Bubby had some good aim and connection this time around (I'm guessing with a wooden block or some of the wood play food). I grabbed some ice from the freezer and put it on her forehead. She was not thrilled with that (AT ALL), but we stuck with it. Glenn took over ice duty and I called the doctor.

We'd had head bumps in the past, but this one was a lot worse. And big. After talking to the nurse we decided to go in. The things we needed to watch for (including Beanie being extra emotional or cranky -- she's 4 1/2!!) were not something I wanted to guess on this time. Glenn called in to work and we headed to the pediatrician's office.

We didn't get to see our normal pediatrician and the one we saw was so weird. She talked in this weird I'm-talking-to-a-three-month-old-baby silly voice. "Do you have a boo-boo? Does it hurt?" I wish I could describe her tone of voice in a blog post because even Beanie looked at her like she was nuts.

Went through all the little tests to make sure things were fine neurologically (they were) and headed back home. She let me ice her forehead a bit more and, luckily, the swelling went down fairly quickly. She still has a bit of a bump and a big shiner on her forehead, but I get the feeling she's been enjoying telling her preschool friends how she got it.

I'm sure this will not be the last time one of the kids injures the other, so I'll just take a deep breath and hope the next time doesn't come too soon.