On Friday night, Peter and Luke were playing together as I finished cleaning the kitchen. Peter lost his balance and bumped his head on Kate's child size bureau. He cut his head but didn't say anything.
A few minutes later, Luke told me, "Mommy, someone spilled juice on the floor!" I looked up to see what he was talking about, and had that moment of confusion when you know something isn't quite right but I hadn't figured it out yet.
A few seconds later I realized that the "juice" was a trail that started in my bedroom(where Kate's bureau resides for now), through the living room, and into the dining room where Peter stood looking like a scene from a horror movie. His hands were covered in blood and there was blood all over his face and arms. I jumped from the couch where I had just sat down to nurse Kate.(So she started screaming.)
I yelled to Mike that I needed help and Andrew and Ellie came running from their rooms as I figured out where the blood was coming from.(Jay was out at Sarah's basketball game and Jon was on the Vineyard at his basketball game.)
I quickly discovered it was his head and that it was spurting out with each of his heartbeats. I grabbed a kitchen towel and held it on tight to stop the bleeding. Peter stood there laughing at all the commotion. I told him, "Peter, you're bleeding. You have a cut on your head." He looked at me and said, "That's not good." Umm.....no!
We learned that Mike is not the person to call in an emergency. He walked out of the bathroom, saw all the blood on Peter and all over the floor, and started walking in a circle waving his arms and swearing. So.not.helpful.
Thankfully, the other kids were not squirmish. I started barking out orders like a drill sergeant....'Ellie, put a video on for Luke in the family room so he doesn't step in blood." "Andrew, get me a warm face cloth to clean some of this blood off of Peter." Andrew was also holding a (still) screaming Kate, too! "Mike, stop swearing and call your father." "Ellen, grab paper towels and start cleaning up the blood." "Andrew, Swiffer the floors."
Meanwhile, the bleeding stopped and I was able to see exactly what was going on. It was a small cut...about 1/3 of an inch...but pretty meaty. It's definitely not a spot you can put a butterfly bandage on either. Ugh...another trip to the ER!
I cleaned off Peter while Ellen and Andrew got the floors clean. I realized that he had gotten blood on my bedspread and sheets....so after spraying them with oxyclean and throwing them in the wash with a quick prayer that the blood would come out,...I threw them in the wash. (It worked:)
Jay took Peter to the ER. Peter thought the visit was great...his own personal field trip! Thankfully, the doctor was able to use glue and they didn't have to wait long.
In the daylight on Saturday, I found some missed spots on the floor...and blood on our dining room sliders and the bathroom door! I continued the cleaning to include the dining room walls and the side board and the girls' bedroom door. That was something positive!
The last three months have each had a visit to the ER...Mike's broken hand and stitches in his chin in November, Jay's eye incident in December, and now Peter in January! I'm certainly hoping that this trend does not continue!
