Ever meet someone who knows just the right things to say at just the perfect time? Wednesday I got an email from baby center about Kehnley, they send me updates on my girls age and milestones what have you....she just had a birthday, so it sent me all about "my four yr old" It was mainly all about how to calm fears in 4 yr olds. We have been experiencing a lot of this as she becomes more aware and more attached to us, like meltdowns at the Y when we leave her to workout for an hr, her new experience of swimming lessons brought out a frantic side of her, big crowds, even Sunday School which she usually loves and goes to great had caused a bit of anxiety to rise up in her lately. So it was giving good advice about not telling the child there is nothing to be afraid of bc their fears are real and acknowledging them and helping them through it with small steps, and accepting them as they are. (I am not a worrier, Bryson is...so this is a lot of new territory for me, and I am seeing more and more she has his characteristics to worry about things, and over analyze like he does) My natural instinct it to say "it will be fine, there is nothing to worry about because of these five very rational reasons i will explain to you" lol....
Obviously this advice was great and helpful and I had no idea how useful it would become in the days that followed. Although, Baby Center knows a lot about babies, I sought the Lord on what to do and how to encourage her, pray for her, teach her..... here is what He gave me--i shared this with Kehnley on Thursday morning....
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."
You would think it would be enough that a child's mama or daddy were with them, but for Kehnley it hasn't been...but these words comforted her. I hope that it will always be enough that God is with her--shielding and protecting her. Some might look at what happened next as God's sleepin on the job lack of protection. But I will let he words of my little 4 yr old set it straight....
I'll set the stage, after dinner Sadie had her bath already before dinner bc she decided to climb into the distilled rain water that gathered in the baby pool on the back porch, Kehnley had been playing with some new birthday gifts she had yet to open before our Florida trip. Maybe because it was an end to a stressful week, not enough time outside, or too much sugar from the snow cone....all in all, the girls were literally bouncing off the walls! I decided to take the couch cushion off the middle of one of the couches so that they could just bounce there if need be like a protected trampoline...it wasn't enough thrill! Soon, Sadie brought me a book to read her and Kehnley continued to bounce, but I noticed out of the corner of my eye was was bouncing on the "trampoline" to the other cushions, and back again. Then was the sound of things falling on glass and her scream.
I looked over to her in slow motion as it always happens when tragedy is about to strike. She has blood running down her face from the top of her eye, her eye brow was split in two and the lower side was dented in, blood soon filled her face and i could no longer see the wound. I picked her up screaming, Sadie starts screaming too in the commotion of all of it, hers was of fear, Kehnley's was fear...and pain. Bry was working late that night with inventory, FREAKING INVENTORY, and as quickly as i could think to do i grabbed a towel to cover her eye and put some water on it, neither one of the girls would let me put them down, Kehnley wanted to see her eye in the mirror, and was still screaming, Sadie still crying....Kehnley takes a break from the screaming to say "don't send me to the dr. i don't want stitches!"
**side note, earlier that day (ironic) she and Sadie her playing kind of rough and i said then don't do that because someone could get hurt and have to go to the emergency room after questions of why and how and what i said and she might have to get stitches and they hurt really bad.. man would I eat those words later!**
It was later and I was trying to calm her down frm the fear of getting stiches. I called Bry.no answer. I called mom. no answer. i ran acoss the street to the neighbors. no answer. i ran to the next door. no answer. FINALLY as I am setting the girls down to watch Uni Zoomi and get their minds on things and gather my stuff to go to the ER, Bry calls, and Granny comes to the door. Sadie stays with Cole, and me and Donna load Kehnley's crying little body into the backseat. She's in my lap, im trying to calm her with stories and songs and prayers. We get to the ER sit down (its always weird to me how you can be so wound up, turmoil boiling inside feeling frantic --for me that usually means crazy hair too-- and have to sit down and calmly fill out paperwork like its a routine check up your in for... not like blood all over your shirt and a swollen face and crying child. So we do that and soon she has a nurse see her and we are headed back to a room, she freaking out about the imminent stitches and the glass doors. They want to put her on the bed (nice try big-and-tall male nurse with no smile) so I hold her they look at her cut she screams when the press on it (lets be honest I wanted to also!)
They say something blah blah...give medicine...wait and hr...do stitches once its numbed....strap her down....
She wants OFF the bed as soon as they leave the room, mentions she heard them say strap her down and starts to panic, they try to take her pulse with the finger thing, shes like Girl Interrupted crazy right now...not helping her hopes ofr not being strapped down at all. Time goes by she gets an icy from daddy he gets there soon and we r coloring in a Hello Kitty coloring book he brought. I'l leave out all the extra details of her showing Granny how to play angry birds and that calming her down, how she kept wanting to look in the mirror at her bow-bow, how weird it was being in the same ER as when Sadie was there just a year ago, the nurses talking to her about the meds and her funny little "im a smart girl" remarks about how it felt like water that we drink and they were going to be done soon right and she was ready to go home....she get her meds and the numbing started to work, here is where she said "they will just come back and check me and we can go, yeah we can leave they will just check it and but a band-aid". i had to tell her they were giving stitches, then explain i was wrong when i said it would hurt really bad, it would hurt maybe a little but that mommy had never had stitches til I had her and dr. are smarter now and they have meds to numb the pain and she seemed happy that I was wrong :).
My mom videoed the stitching (i dont think I want to watch it) at first it was okay, but then the thin to the bone skin was really painful, lots of "i want to go home, I'm done" mommy please hold me, pick me up, mommy please" breaks your heart...i hope no parent has to go through that. When it was all done 7 stitches made her eye look swollen and pinched and a little like the monster high dolls but she just wanted to know ONE thing...will my eye brow come back and my lashes show regular? lol. She drank her Ocean Water and took pics and talked a lot and was glad to leave.
So HOW is God's protection in all of this? She said it to me in the car.."at least the glass didn't break, at least we are close to the dr. and Granny is close by, at least you were home with me mama, at least it didn't get my eyeball, at least I don't have to go to swim lessons anymore"
Thank you Lord for the lessons this has taught us, she did say "I will never jump on the couch again I promise!"
I thought I would miss the ER as long as I had girls, not boys...looks like I was wrong again! :)
the night of
the day after
looking at it to make sure her "eyebrow comes back"
silly faces...she feels good right now
I'll try to get an upclose later :)
