A warning: This post is graphic both in language and photographs. Short story: Erica had an accident today and had to go to hospital in an ambulance. The long story is below.

My sister Stephanie & I meet up every Wednesday with our kids to attend a singing class in her local library which is attached to a shopping mall. After the class we usually go for lunch and we decided to do that today as we haven’t seen each other in a few weeks. We sat down and doled out the foodstuff and Erica was bouncing on her seat. I thought nothing of it, until she fell but she fell with her arms outstretched and her arms went underneath the table meaning that her forehead took the full force of the fall.

Still not panicking by this point, Stephanie pulled her up and oh shitting fuck I could see her skull. The clear, clean hole in her head suddenly turned scarlet as the blood started pouring from her head. Poured. I’m sitting looking at her and it’s like I’m underwater, I can see her screaming but I can’t hear it because I’m trying to work out whether we should all walk back to the car or if I should just run and get it. It didn’t occur to me that it was so serious we’d need emergency help. Luckily the woman sitting beside us had a modicum more sense and called for an ambulance. Because she’s a minor and it was a head injury it was classed as an emergency but it took 20 minutes for the ambulance to reach us. TWENTY MINUTES. I couldn’t believe it. During this time, Erica was bleeding profusely and there’s just blood blood blood everywhere and I’m freaking out and crying and phoning Bob to come from work and my Mum to come and get Stephanie, her daughter Bailey and the boys. I looked at the boys only to see Findlay had climbed up a glass wall to watch for the ambulance and was hanging over it. We were on the first floor, the wall was the only barrier on a mezzanine so had he fallen over he’d have splatted onto the ground below. By this point I didn’t really care about what anyone thought of my usually exemplary parenting skills since my two year old daughter was lying screaming with a hole in her head so I bellowed at him to get down and not be so bloody stupid.

The ambulance crew finally arrived and pretty much on the spot decided to take her to the hospital. I’d assumed they’d take us to the hospital nearest the shopping mall so had to phone Bob and tell him to go to Yorkhill children’s hospital in Glasgow instead. In the end, he was there before we were.

In the back of the ambulance the two paramedics cleaned up her head and put butterfly stitches on to hold the wound closed until we got to the hospital and my Mum stuck her head round the back of the ambulance to see how we were. Erica was still really dazed and shocked but I’d snapped back to reality and told my poor Mum (who has just had major surgery on her neck and shouldn’t really have been driving) to take my ENORMOUS car back to her house with the kids & Stephanie. We then left and headed to the hospital. I asked Erica if she wanted me to take her photo in the neenaw and she got the most animated she’d been since the accident, shouting, “CHEEEEESE” which was a sick kind of relief.

We got to the hospital, handed over from the lovely paramedics to the hospital reception then triage. We managed at this time to quickly email Bob’s Mum, text my Mum & Dad and update twitter with a much happier Erica and her Daddy

before being called in to see the Doctor. He was quite happy with the patch-up job the paramedics had done and suggested leaving things as they were rather than either glueing the wound or stitching it. So, in all it’s glory here is the damage.

It’s going to be a belter of a scar. It’s going to be a nightmare trying to stop her bumping her head or touching the wound but this could have been so much worse.

I’m away for a stiff drink and a good cry!

Posted under family