The ER "bites"

I had a very Happy Mother’s Day, but it wasn’t quite what I expected…

I enjoy every one-on-one moment I get with each of my children, and I guess Riley really wanted to spend some time with me because she and I ended up in the Emergency Room on Sunday afternoon. We had gone to church with my dad and family, gone out to lunch then headed to Ty’s house to visit with his family for the afternoon. I was packing up the van to get stuff ready to take back to WV and Riley, Lincoln, Ty’s Gma, Mom and Aunt were by the barn. All of a sudden I heard Riley screaming and Ty’s Aunt Sherry scream…I literally started running over to the barn where they were (I could see them the whole time, I just wasn’t right there). Come to find out one of the stupid dogs on the farm had “attacked” Riley. It bit her on the forehead and her head was literally gushing with blood. I scooped her up, grabbed a blanket from the car and held it against her head to stop the bleeding. Sherry drove to the nearest ER while I sat with Riley in the back still holding the blanket to her head and Ty’s mom followed behind us in her car.

I think we attracted a lot of attention upon arriving. Here I am huge and pregnant, blood covering my shirt and hers, and a screaming 3 year old in my arms. At least we didn’t have to wait :)! They cleaned up the wound and determined she wouldn’t need stitches (thank goodness!!). While we waited Gma saved the day and got Riley a ring-pop (her favorite). Riley screamed and screamed and screamed when they put the steri stripes on her head but she was very brave. She was bouncing off the walls again in no time. She was so good that I took her straight to Burger King for a BIG chocolate milkshake (isn’t it standard to get ice cream after getting hurt??!). I am so thankful that the bite wasn’t worse because it definitely could have been, I am glad it didn’t get her eyes or now pray that it doesn’t get infected. I know head wounds bleed a lot more than any other, but I couldn’t believe the amount of blood pouring out of her head, literally it was like a running faucet.

She’s on antibiotics now and we’ll continue to watch the wound for infection…otherwise we’re good to go and hope it doesn’t leave a scar. Ty wasn’t with us and lets just say he was furious and worried the whole time. I think that was the hardest part for him; getting a phone call saying we were on the way to the ER and not being able to be there with his little one. We kept him posted and it calmed his nerves too. Lets just say we definitely won’t be getting a dog EVER (not that we ever would have before this incident) and they won’t be playing with the farm animals anymore. I don’t think she’ll want to be around dogs anytime soon anyways because she is now terrified of them.