♪♪ One little Emmy playing on the bed. She fell down and gashed her head. A trip to the emergency room and the doctor said, “She’ll need 6 staples in her head.” ♪♪

So yep, that was how our Christmas turned out yesterday. We had gone to church in the morning as usual, and then opened gifts after we had breakfast. Later in the afternoon, we went over to my in-laws’ house for more festivities and family time. Emily was pillow-fighting on a bed with some cousins and hit her head on the headboard.

My husband and I took her to the emergency room and by then, thankfully the bleeding had stopped. Our brother-in-law and niece came by with some Christmas dinner for us, which was very much appreciated (thanks Keith and Victoria)! We were all hungry, and we took it as a good sign that Emily was, too.

Only one parent was allowed in with the patient, so my husband claimed it. I felt so useless and helpless as I had to remain in the waiting area and not be by my daughter’s side. I distracted myself by texting my husband for updates and by people-watching, wondering about all of the various ailments, maladies, injuries, etc that were coming and going through the doors. While there were plenty of open seats around me, it still felt like quite a number of emergencies to be happening on a major holiday.

I’d been in that same emergency room twice before. The first was when my brother died. They allowed us all in rather quickly because he was near the end. The other time was when I was in labor with my son. By then, my contractions were already 4 minutes apart, so they got me in and set up in the maternity ward rather quickly, as well. And now I’ve been there on Christmas, and it was not a quick trip.

My poor little girl ended up needing 6 staples put in the gash on the back of her head. From what my husband told me, he said that the worst part for Emily was getting the numbing injection, rather than the staples themselves! Apparently, she told him that it felt like there was “lava” on her head. The ER doctor didn’t have to shave any of Emily’s hair off, and that’s another relief. She’ll have to go to her pediatrician in a week to get the staples removed and then she’ll have an interesting scar and story to tell about it for the rest of her life. (And as a side-note, my husband has a scar on the back of his head in almost the same spot from when he injured himself when he was a child.)

So about 4 hours after the injury happened, she was released from the hospital, and we were back at my in-laws’ to eat, drink, open presents, and be grateful that it wasn’t too severe of an emergency situation. My dear Emily was showing off her battle wound, joking with her cousins, and still had the joy of Christmas in her heart. ❤

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas! Wishing you a Happy New Year, as well!