Busted mouth

I was washing dishes. C was trying to climb on the kitchen stool, but lost his balance and hit his chin on the countertop. As he fell, he pulled the stool on top of himself and it slammed into his mouth. I immediately grabbed him and held him for a few minutes to try and calm him, but he just kept screaming. When I finally glanced down there was a lot of blood on both of us. I took him to the bathroom where I had him rinse and spit with cold water so I could see the extent of the damage. There was a gaping hole inside his upper lip so we sat on the couch and he sucked on ice. He didn't stop bleeding for two hours. I have had plenty of kids with mouth injuries incurred in the exact same way as C, but none that were so bloody for so long.

I took him to the dentist as a precaution and the dentist said he was "borderline stitches", but because it had torn in a "Y" shape, stitches wouldn't hold very well. It was about this time that my queasiness finally caught up to me and I told him to stop being so descriptive because I was getting lightheaded. (You are welcome for all the detail I have included in this post.) So we are supposed to watch him for signs of infection or flaps of skin that do not adhere.

So much of parenting is filled with blood, discipline, vomit, snot, cleaning, redirecting, laundry,. tears, homework, and the list goes on and on, but I live for moments like the hour my boy snuggled with me because his mouth hurt. Dishes can wait.