Carter's First Trip to Urgent Care

Yesterday morning we had the second session in a five week series called "1, 2, 3 Play with Me" at the library. We had a blast! The library is right next to an awesome running trail that makes a 3.1 mile loop so I dressed in my running clothes and we headed out for a run after our program. Elise fell asleep almost immediately. When we made it almost 2 miles into our run we ran past a playground and Carter asked to play. I figured that would be perfect so Elise could continue to sleep while Carter played. Instead of finishing out the loop I ran a bit out past the playground and headed back to the playground to play. I knew it would put us between 1.25-1.5 miles from our car which made me a bit nervous. But I told myself I was being dramatic as we've played at this exact playground so many times with no problem. I figured we'd play for a bit and then walk back to the car a little after noon.

Carter and Elise playing together at our library program.

Carter climbing a tree at the playground.

Elise napping while we played.

Carter took off playing and was having so much fun. There are two different playgrounds and he played on the first one for quite a while before we headed over to the other one that would be on our way to the car. Elise woke up as we were heading over so I got her out to play. Going up to the playground there is a long ramp which Carter loves to run up and down. I set Elise down on it and she took off crawling. Carter saw her, started laughing, and headed over to play chase with her. He would run up the ramp as Elise crawled after him and then he'd turn around and head back as Elise pivoted to chase him. I followed along next to Elise to make sure she didn't fall off the side. Carter ran up to the top and Elise chased him up. When he got to the top he headed back down running. As Elise and I were both turning around to follow him, he started crying. I looked up and saw him laying on the ramp, tummy down. I took off running toward him and grabbed him up in my arms rubbing his back. It wasn't until I set Carter down to get Elise that I realized Carter was bleeding. When I put him down blood started gushing onto the ground. With how much Carter had calmed down when I picked him up, I was shocked to see he was actually injured. Carter started to panic that he was bleeding but I remained calm. I pulled my shirt off and put it on his head to soak up the blood and apply pressure. I held it onto his head as I strapped Elise into the stroller. I pulled the shirt back to look and was pretty sure his wound would require stitches from what I could see. I was shocked and looked at the ramp to see metal poking up in between the sections which must've been what Carter had hit his head on. He was wearing cowboy boots which didn't have enough traction and his feet just slid. I called Ty and we decided the fastest way to get Carter help was for me to run back to my car and then drive to an Urgent Care. We knew I could run back to the car faster than someone else could arrive to help, plus they wouldn't have car seats. I talked to Carter and asked him if he could hold the shirt to his head and apply pressure as I ran. He said he could so I put him in the stroller and he took over applying pressure. As I took off running I called my dad to see if he could meet me at Urgent Care to help with Elise since Jeremy and my parents had arrived home the day before. When I got off the phone with him I saw Ty had texted me the address of a pediatric urgent care and said he'd meet us there, so I called my dad back to tell him he didn't need to come. I turned my Garmin back on to see how far we were from the car. It turned out to be 1.4 miles and I ran the first mile in 7:30 on a decently hilly course on really thin wet gravel which was no easy feat!

Carter was acting so normal when we got back to the car, asking for goldfish penguins and playing with his binoculars, I began to think I may have overreacted. But then I put my shirt back on and saw the sheer amount of blood covering it and figured a trip to see a doctor was in our best interest. I explained to Carter we were going to the doctor so they could look at his head and he may have to get stitches. He asked what stitches were and I explained and then reminded him he'd seen them on Uncie J's head. He seemed to feel better knowing Uncie J had stitches in his head. When we arrived Ty was already there filling out paperwork. He was impressed with my shirt and headed out to his car to get me a spare shirt he had in the car. I took another look at Carter's wound and with the blood dried in it, it looked more like he'd just need a butterfly bandage. Carter played in the waiting room and acted just fine. When they took us back the nurse cleaned out the wound with water and that's when we could tell just how deep it was. Between that, the blood, and how hungry I was, I began to feel sick. The worst part of he ordeal in Carter's opinion was them cleaning out his wound because the water was so cold. The doctor came in and told Carter she was going to put some glue on his head to hold it together and he did really well while she did that. When she was done a nurse brought Carter a purple slushy. The perks of a pediatric urgent care! The doctor told us if the wound had been any further up into his hair, they would have put staples in. I was thankful they hadn't needed to do that!

Ty took a picture of my blood soaked shirt.

In the waiting room at Urgent Care.

Playing games while waiting for a doctor.

 

It didn't look too bad with all the blood filling up the wound.

They washed it clean.

Once it was all washed out you could see how deep it really was.

Putting the glue on to hold his skin together.

Wild haired boy enjoying his grape slush.

By the time we left urgent care it was nearly 2:00. I asked Carter what he wanted for lunch and he said mac and cheese. I didn't feel up to making lunch when we got home so I put in a rapid pick up order to Panera. Carter was so worn out he napped in the car on the way home while I drove through to pick up his antibiotic prescription and then ran into Panera to pick up our food. He looked so sweet and just like usual, sleeping with his binoculars around his neck, some penguin cheddar crackers next to him, and his slushie in his cup holder. When we got home we enjoyed some lunch and then rested together while Elise napped. Carter couldn't fall back to sleep since he'd slept a little in the car so we just laid and rested together for a while and then I let him get up and we watched part of the DVD he'd picked out at the library earlier in the day. I was so thankful Carter's injury had just required some glue and didn't involve a concussion or anything more serious. Now we have our first urgent care trip out of the way. I'm sure there will be more to come.

Zonked out in the car when we got home.

A view of it all glued together and dried.