SPOILER ALERT AND WARNING: If you get queasy at the site of blood (JaeTill), skip today’s post. Or scroll slowly and when you get to the caption for adventure two, close the blog and have a nice rest of your day.
Adventure One:
Saturday we went to a farm about an hour from our house in western Pennsylvania. The plan was to pick apples and buy apple cider. We did both. We also bought a strawberry rhubarb pie, which was not on the list, but I can be flexible when I want to be.
The kids at the entrance.
On the hayride out to the orchard.
The first thing Ryan did was ask for an apple and start eating it.
Ainsley twisting a ripe apple from the tree.
Natalie reaching for a ripe one.
Henry and the kids.
Henry took a picture of me however it’s of me bending over as opposed to picking apples so not publishable here. MEN!
Adventure Two:
When we got back to the farm entrance, the kids went to play on the playground with Henry while I went in to buy the pie and apple cider. Before paying I ran outside to ask Henry a question. I looked across the 100 or so feet to the playground and saw Henry running to Natalie who was trying to hold Ryan up. I didn’t think much about it. As I walked closer I could see by Ryan’s body movement that he was crying. Again, a normal occurrence. Henry looked up, saw me and yelled, “I can’t figure out what’s wrong with him…. he’s bleeding.”
He flipped Ryan around and I couldn’t believe my eyes. I ran over to a little boy whose face was covered in blood and whatever was bleeding was still gushing. I grabbed Ryan and Henry quickly pulled Ryan’s shirt up to check his heart. (Henry didn’t see what happened but it was clear Ryan had fallen. Henry wanted to make sure Ryan’s heart was not part of the injury) It was clean. Whew!
Then we both assessed his face. There was blood pooled in his mouth, nose, eyes… everywhere. As I moved up his face I finally saw a gusher on his forehead. There was so much blood I couldn’t see how big the wound was. (Insert two little girls screaming bloody-murder and running around in circles and crying) I clamped the heal of my hand over his forehead and the other on the back of his head and said, “Henry, get a towel….. and a first aid kit.” The last part I yelled over my shoulder since Henry was already sprinting inside.
(a picture of Ryan’s little wound after we cleaned up a lot of the blood. This isn’t even half of what he had on his face when I got to him)
The farm owners were extremely helpful. They brought us a brand-new washcloth, a bottle of water to wash the wound, a roll of paper towels (which they offered to give us for the car ride home), their first aid kit, offered to call 911, and anything else we could think of. It was clear Ryan was fine once the bleeding stopped and we could clean him up a bit. There was just a lot to clean. Henry and I flushed the wound, put some antibacterial cream on it and butterflied it shut. Once I started working on his head, Ryan said, “Ow” a few times, but otherwise let me do what I needed to. He was soooo brave.
Natalie said, “Is Ryan going to die?” “No,” I said, “he’s not going to die.” “But he lost so much blood,” she said. I assured her there was much more blood in his body than what came out and that he would be fine.
When we heard the girls screaming and crying, I told them everything would be fine and to go look at the pumpkins. Ains stayed away until the end when we told her it was okay to come back. She cried when she heard Henry say we should take Ryan to get stitches. Both girls can’t stand watching their brother in pain. (We had a conversation in the car about the importance of staying calm in an emergency situation – that panic-ing makes it hard to think clearly. We told them we were nervous too when we saw Ryan’s face and that step one is always to stop the bleeding. We helped them think of what they might do it they got hurt and we weren’t around.)
Henry took the kids to the animal barn behind the shop while I went inside to pay for the pie and cider – we couldn’t leave with them….. and then we thought it best to get Ryan to an urgent care facility to glue his head back together. He has enough scars already. We were all disappointed to leave so soon. We promised the kids we’d come back.
Here’s Ryan waiting for the doctor at urgent care. He wanted to sit on this stool. I guess he thinks he’s spent enough time in hospitals that he’s considered staff now.
The kids and I eating lollipops to pass the time. (You can see some of Ryan’s blood on his shirt and mine)
Here’s how small his cut is. We still aren’t exactly sure what he hit… probably a rock. Natalie was walking with him when he fell. She said he lost his footing as he went from the blacktop to the grass and fell, then flipped over. Before we butterflied it, this little slit was open about the size of a pea. Boy, it caused quite an adventure to end our trip to the farm.
BTW – He’s doing great. He doesn’t act like anything happened. He was happy and acting himself by the time we finished butterflying it shut. He led the pack to the animal barn, pointing and saying, ‘anmals..anmals.” We’re thankful it was nothing more serious.
(c) 2016 Leighann Marquiss
Comments (9)
Nothing like that sight to get the blood pumping (pun intended LOL). Oh my goodness Praise God it was not his heart but a tiny boo boo that bled like crazy. Those little head cuts are so very vascular. So sorry that happened, poor girls had to be so very scared, praying for their hearts. Too bad we just cant wrap our little ones in bubble wrap till they are adults.
Glad he is okay. I think the forehead bleeds a lot. My 2 yr old son fell and split his head open from his eyebrown to his hairline and ended up with 21 stitches total. There was tons of blood and it scared us to death. He too is fine and the wound healed up well. Again glad Ryan is doing well and the girls survived!
Wow, poor little guy. Glad everyone is doing well. love you guys!
Oh how this one took me back almost 20 years. My daughter had a very similar cut on her forehead. Your description was all too familiar to me (the gush-the clamping of my hand-the urgent care trip). I’m so glad he is ok!
This reminds me of a story that ends with my putting my little brother’s head under a running faucet and then disappointedly saying “oh. It’s just a flesh wound.”
I needed to hear your talk to the girls about not panicking–I have borderline panicked twice recently. Thankfully Alan was here both times to take control!
p.s. Met your darling brother in law last night at AWANA drop off.
Poor lil guy! I hope he is doing better! reminds me of when we went to Wisconsin dells (home of the waterparks). My husband and I were meeting our whole family there for a 3 day adventure. We left a day earlier and all was well. the day my parents arrived we were lounging by the outdoor water park, My oldest then like 5 was playing on the slides, we were having our adult drinks and suddenly he stood up at the bottom of the slide and was bloody. I didnt have my glasses on of course so I”m like…what is he going on about? He gets closer and had a huge gash on his chin! it wasn’t even bleeding anymore but people were freaking out. I usually am calm in situations, being a nurse and all, and of course THAT was the time my hubby decided to go for a walk to stretch his legs before this all happened so I had to find him, quickly change myself into dry clothes, load him and my mother (who was frareeking out ) in the car, to the urgent care to get stitches..lol
Whew! An outsider never would have known the panic that went through your minds. The first thing I thought of was his heart. Hear I am reading miles away thinking “Henry check his chest!” “Is it OK?” “Whew”..Just a normal life bruise. 😉
I wait with anticipation to see how God uses our children through various trials in life. Sweet girls Leighann.
Poor little Ryan, glad it wasn’t as bad as it looked with all the blood. But still sad he got hurt.