Hailey's First Stitches

**After typing this all out, it is long - I just wanted to give as much detail, so if anyone asks - I won't have to tell it over and over :) **

Hailey had her very first stitches stitch today...we were at the parade and went back to my Mom's friends house (she lives right behind a lady that lets everyone sit in her yard to watch the parade) then has a big bash at her house all day. Right as we get back to the house, I was trying to make my way to the living room to be with Jeff & the girls and all of a sudden Hailey is walking from the bathroom area (opposite side of where Jeff was) and someone told me they thought the dog scratched her because she was crying. I looked at her face and it looked bad at first glance (in my opinion for being a simple scratch) so I picked her up and put her on the kitchen counter. She wasn't crying THAT bad, just more of a scared cry I think...she let me wipe it off and Jeff noticed what happened and came up to see. Decided we'd got to Nana's house & let her look at it to see if it needed stitches...got there, she still seemed fine - just kept the paper towel on it and kept wanting to touch it. All the time she was telling us the doggy bit her, not with its feet...and it was a REALLY REALLY REALLY big dog! The dog was maybe 40lbs?? Not that big... but anyway... after Nana looked at it, she said it would be best to take her in since it was gaping. We finally got a hold of Shawna (she was cleaning house & didn't hear our messages)...and took Caitlin over to her. Got Hailey to Children's in Dallas around 12:30, probably a little before that actually...this all happened right around 11am, and Cindy said you have a 6 hour window for stitches, so we were worried. They got us right in, were so wonderful & very nice to Hailey. We kept telling her (on the way there) the hospital was only for little kids and they'd be super nice to her and take care of her... we finally got into a room and I don't feel we waited THAT long, we pretty much had the nurse or doc assistant in and out, she did finally start to get a little restless from sitting but by the time she was to the point of no return, they were ready to give her a stitch. They thought at first they were going to just dermabond it but the doc said that with dog bites, they do not recommend using it. She got no hurty cream on the site (to numb it) and got happy meds...they didn't seem like they were going to work at first, I didn't think they'd knock her out like they said it does for some kids (it didn't for Caitlin when she had her VCUG), just made her very happy & not really care what was going on... Hailey was soooooooooo funny & cute. Sweet girl was giggling like a school girl but then turned to crying spells and wanted to be held and babied. Then she'd laugh and go on again... once she was ready for the doc to do the stitch, she was NOT wanting to be held down & was (in my opinion) freaking out a little. She did well though...I think what scared her the most was seeing the tools come toward her face. She still wasn't to happy when it was over, wanted to be held and was just out of it... so she handled the meds with happy giggles then would go to crying and wanting to be held. The car ride home was fun... she was still out of it and then started to try to pick at her stitch, I had to climb in the back and sit with her to distract her. One thing that still makes me laugh - the entire time she was getting the stitch, you could tell she was "out of it" and she'd have to focus to see who was right there talking to her but she always pointed out (whoever she was looking at) had two eyes... it was sooo cute!!! We finally got her home (well to Shawna's house) she wanted to see Na-Na...she was coming off the meds but still couldn't really walk straight. She pretty much seemed drunk. She finally after being there maybe an hour calmed down and was acting normal again. She doesn't really notice her stitch now, she will think about it or touch it when she does something with her face but doesn't seem to want to pull it out or anything like that, thankfully!! She does have a little red area (like a scratch) on her cheek bone and then under her chin a bruise but thankfully it wasn't THAT bad...it could of been A LOT worse. I feel soooo bad for my Mom's friend - they said the dog is NOT mean at all, very nice dog and has never bitten anyone...so I don't know if it was overwhelmed with everyone there or if Hailey maybe tried to pet it or possible be "mean" to it (rough like she is with Max) and it didn't like it. I don't know... I'm just grateful she is okay and it wasn't that bad.

Here is a picture that Jeff took in the car of her, she wouldn't smile. You can't really see the cheek bone & under the chin, she'd never let us get a pic of it either.

The bandage was bigger then it needed to be but it worked for the time being...it was to hold on all the no hurty meds (the stuff to numb the site). She was watching SpongeBob with Daddy, waiting for the "happy meds" to kick in...

Happy 4th Everyone!