20100531

Gratitude Monday

Today I am grateful for good friends and their support.

I had planned to write a gratitude post about the military, soldiers and our freedom. Instead I have a tale to tell.

Last night we had a cook out a our house. Will and I prepped food and bought some delicious carne asada (we didn't know it would be delicious as we were trying a new carneceria, but it was, oh it was.)

Rhayn's two best friends and their families were coming over. We were all very excited. After they arrived we stood around eating tortilla chips and the salsa I had made and the nopaliotos brought by A. The ladies and I were prepping the tortillas, the men were outside (because the grill was on of course) and Gwennie was swinging happily in our tree.

Then time stopped.

D came running in with Gwennie, who was screaming. Will took her and put her on the couch. She was bleeding. D explained what happened. She had been swinging, and one of the ropes loosened. She fell and cracked her head on the concrete barrier for our grass. Both D and Will had heard what Will described as the sound of a cantaloupe hitting concrete. She had a small gash in her head and was really hurting.

I held the gauze on her head, for a while. We had to decide whether she hit her head hard enough to need to go to the hospital. A asked her questions, when Gwennie had finally calmed down, about her headache and whether it was an "inside headache" or an "outside headache".

A and Pam finished preparing all of the food and the guys made sure the kids were fed. I held Gwennie in our chair but she started falling asleep. To keep her awake I gave her a popsicle. The kids sat outside to eat. Gwennie sat out there, too for a little while, but it was so hot and she hurt. She came in and tried to sleep on me. Will and I kept making her stand up. We gave her a second popsicle. At this point she started saying her tummy hurt. A brought her a bowl. Will looked up concussions or TBI on the Mayo clinic's website.

Gwennie wanted to sleep, she was having a hard time keeping her head up. So while I held her, A and Will researched how long we needed to keep her awake. Also Pam texted her mom (who is an LPN) to ask her. Basically, we found out that we could let her sleep, but we needed to keep waking her to see if she was still responsive. She threw up while they were researching keeping her awake.

Eventually she slept, and I was sort of able to get back to my friends. I felt scared and stressed. Partially because this was my baby and I felt terrible for her, but also because I had tied the knot that had come undone and caused all of this.

She woke up later and threw up a little more. Then dozed again on the couch.

Everyone stayed until 10, leaving with promises that if we needed to drop Rhayn off while we took Gwennie to the emergency room, just call. Or one of them would gladly come sit at the house while we were at the emergency room. And again I was filled with a sense of gratitude.

Gwennie woke up around the time every one left. She was acting like herself again. She used the potty, brushed her teeth, gladly put on pajamas, and happily climbed into bed between Will and I so we could keep an eye on her.

And at 5:30 in the morning, she popped up, wide awake and ready for another day. She has a bump on her head and a butterfly bandage holding together a cut that looks almost identical to the one Rhayn got last year (although Gwennie's is on her right temple and Rhayn's was in her hair.) But all seems well.

And for that... I am also grateful.

4 comments:

Everyday Mom Designs said...

Oh goodness.... I'm so very glad that she is okay and that it wasn't worse than what it was... It's good to have great friends who can help you in a time of need like this..

I hope she continues to feel better. Happy Memorial Day.

bodaat said...

oh my gosh, i am glad that she is ok!!! god bless her!

Amanda said...

That sounds awful! I am so sorry you had to go through that, and I am so glad you had such a strong support system in place when it happened.

Amie said...

Ouchie ouchie ouchie! Poor dears on what was supposed to be such a fun day. Sounds like she came out ok, but it also sounds like she definitely had a concussion!

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