Yesterday I took Miss A into daycare a little before 9 and headed into work. I had been at my desk for about 45 minutes when my cell phone rang and I could see it was her teacher. I thought that was odd. I answered and her teacher told me not to worry and that everything was OK but…

It was one of those instances you assume you’ll hear the usual things that would prompt a teacher to call you after you’ve just dropped your child off at school. Run of the mill things like fever or under the weather, but instead she was telling me that Miss A’s class had been outside and she had been playing at a large toy car on the playground, the kind you can sit and and pretend to drive with its steering wheels, and had somehow flipped off of it and had a cut close to her eye. Then I heard bleeding and “I think she’s going to need stitches.”

The hubby, thankfully, was at his shop which is right up the road from Miss A’s school so when I called him and gave him the three-second synopsis he said, “I’m leaving now!” and hung up. I messaged my boss and headed out the door but  it would take me at least 20 minutes to get there. The hubby called me as I was pulling on to the road to say he and Miss A were on the way to the ER.

Driving to the hospital my adrenaline was pumping, my heart and my mind were racing, and I just prayed that she was really OK. I’d like to be able to say I was calm, but I’m a closet chronic worrier and the worrier gene was pelting me in the head with “what ifs.” My sister works at the hospital we were going to so I called her to let her know (and she reminded me not to speed) and when I got to the ER she was standing with the hubby and was carrying Miss A who was not crying or bleeding, but looking very forlorn and holding a cloth to her temple. As soon as I saw that Miss A was fine I was fine.

Miss A was incredibly brave and patient. She got a warm blanket and three different kinds of drinks to choose from from the ER nurse whose name was Angel and I really do think her guardian angel was watching over her yesterday because the cut was very close to her eye.

The ER doctor, who was fantastic and made Miss A feel comfortable immediately, put a topical ointment on her eye to numb the area and we waited. When he prepped her eye for the actual stitches he put a piece of gauze over the eye that was hurt and had her close her other eye. Then he placed a sterile type paper sheet over her face with a small opening placed over her eye so she never saw the needle when he numbed the area.

I can’t say that I am as brave a girl as she is.

A few hours and four stitches (and amazingly NO tears during the procedure) later we were on our way home. Once the numbing medication wore off her eye was definitely sore and the doctor warned us it would look much worse than it looked better. This was our first ER experience with either of the girls and I know we’re fortunate it wasn’t anything more serious. It’s nothing that time, a Happy Meal, a little Ibuprofen, and a cool sticker on the belly to show off can’t heal.

Plus when we were getting ready to leave the hospital Miss A looked in my compact mirror at her eye and said: “Those are cool. I’m going to look at my stitches all day.”