Date Night

It was Saturday night. Jared and I were just talking about going to a movie, maybe dinner. I was in my bedroom, on the floor, putting Olivia's Girl Scout patches on her vest. Ashley and her friend were dancing around my room to The Fairies DVD, when all of the sudden I hear a terrible crack- the sound of Ashley's head hitting the footboard of our bed. She runs over to me for comfort, holding her forehead. I am all ready to rub it and tell her it will all be ok when she pulls her hand away and it's covered with blood. I can see there is a deep cut just above her eyebrow. I yell, "Uh, Jared, we're going to the hospital!"

In a matter of minutes, we grab our stuff, send the friends home (along with Olivia), and climb into the car, headed for the hospital which is just minutes away. We arrived at the ER about 5:30 pm and got ready for a stressful evening.

Ashley did surprisingly well during her treatment. I couldn't believe that she held still for as long as she did, especially if you know Ashley! We had to wait about 20 minutes for the numbing to take effect- then Dr. Young (Steve Young's brother) came over and started to sew her back up. She laid on Jared's lap and kept her eyes closed the whole time. Dr. Young did a fabulous job- we're hoping there won't be too much scarring!

It took quite a while, she had 18 stitches; 4 inside and 14 outside. At one point, as the Dr. neared the end of the wound, she started getting upset and kicking and he figured that they hadn't numbed that part very well. So he injected some more medicine and then began again. She was totally still as he finished the rest of the stitches. She wouldn't look at him the whole time, but once it was all done she was happy to give him an enthusiastic high-five as he complimented how well she did. We checked out by 6:45 pm.

We asked her if she wanted to get a little treat on the way home since she was such a brave girl. She said no, she just wanted to go back and play with her friend Ellie. Typical Ashley! We headed home and there was the ice cream truck on our street. So we got her a treat and after saying hello to her friend (she wanted to stay and play but we said no) we went back home.

Olivia and her friend brought Ashley a bunch of cards they had made with the neighborhood kids while we were gone at the hospital. One neighbor gave Ashley a purple teddy that she named, "Purple glittery, sparkly bear". And a few minutes later, our other neighbors showed up with a plate of Rice Krispie treats and well wishes. Ashley loved all the attention. She was back to normal doing headstands and cartwheels that night! This was our third trip to the ER with her in the past two years. This girl is going to keep us on our toes!