Million Dollar Head....(Can we get a helmet for that thing?)

Today proved to be just as the weatherman said--hot and humid, with a few storms and scattered showers. We spent the morning meandering about our local "mall", (which consists of about five REAL stores and 200 little kiosks, and temporary stores), trying to kill time, and get a few things that we needed. The kids actually were very cooperative, and we even managed to squeeze in a haircut for Connor. The wait was a total of ten minutes once we signed in to get his cut, and our little meticulous man must have sighed at least 20 times, exclaiming, "When is it going to be MY turn?....I NEED a haircut...I really, really NEED to look handsome." I was seriously cracking up as I tried to give him things to do in order to keep him distracted until it was FINALLY his turn! ;)

By the time sweet Brookie woke up from her nap (in her NEW bed--which she happens to be sleeping in sooo well :), the skies had cleared, and the gray gloomy day had turned hot, sunny and hazy. I figured it was time to get the kids outside for a bit to expend some of that pent-up energy! We have a water table, and their most favorite thing to do is turn on the spiggot at the side of our house and fill their buckets over, and over, and over again, all the while splashing each other, and filling up the table. We usually let them play for a few minutes before giving the "okay, this wastes water, let's turn the faucet off" now speech. So, I was grabbing a few of these precious moments to read my newest page turner (The Accidental Mother, by Rowan Coleman)when I hear Connor yell, "Owwww". I look up from my gripping story, and he seems to be just fine, dumping yet another pale of ice-cold water on his head and squealing with delight. I give the "water off" speech, and they turn off the spiggot. All is well as my children are happily entertained splashing in the water table and squelching in the mud puddles that have emerged from the running water. I look up at a laughing Connor, contended as ever, running and playing in the mud, covered from head-to-toe in a dirty...gooey...brown liquid...er, wait...IS that brown? Do we live in the Carolinas? Could it possibly be that our earth tinted a rust color? Um, I don't think so. I lept out of my ever so cozy plastic lawn chair to further examine the substance on my baby boy's face.

Low and behold...a mother's worst fear! It was something out of a horror movie!!Blood...red, and watered down from the aquatic entertainment...gushing down Connor's face, and chest, and back! My immediate reaction was to grab his WHITE polo shirt, which he'd previously taken off due to soakage, and start wiping away the blood. Okay fellow mommy's...note to selves..if your stomach is at all weak and you find yourself in a "sticky" situation that might involve loss of bodily fluids, grab something other than a stark white shirt to perform damage control. Damage assessment might not prove to be entirely accurate upon inspecting the WHITE garment.

After I caught my breath, said my initial prayers, calmed myself down, and brought my completely un-phased boy in the house (along with his completely out of control baby sister who absolutely was NOT ready to come inside yet), I could survey the situation and use my hours upon hours of extensive internet medical research to confirm a diagnosis. Upon performing my initial examination I concluded that the wound appeared to be a split laceration, and should not require *real* medical attention. :) Just to be sure, I called the pediatrician's office, and explained our situation to the nurse--who might have been a teensy-tiny bit annoyed at my untrained use of medical terminology, and rightfully so! Lol! ;)

My real concern was WHERE the laceration occurred. You see, when Connor was a mere three months old, he underwent neurosurgery for a condition called craniosynostosis, in which one (or more) of the sutures in an infant's skull fuses pre-maturely. The surgery resulted in removing a 2"x3" piece of skull, to allow Connor's head (and brain) to grow correctly. I realize this is an entirely different post altogether, but my fear at the time was that this "split laceration" re-opened one of the scars from the surgery, and that brains might come bubbling out of my little guy's head. Seriously...this is what my clearly non-medically trained mind was conjuring up at the moment. And is probably why the nurse clearly thought I was nutso as I hurriedly explained the situation.

But, according to the pediatrician after an over the phone consultation (through a nurse), and our non-expert opinions, Connor's "million dollar head" (as we affectionately refer to it) is still intact--brains and all! :) I think I'll ask for a helmet at our follow-up visit with the neurosurgeon this fall!