On Monday afternoon this cute little guy came downstairs with tears in his eyes and a mouth dripping of blood.
"Mom", he whimpered. "I was doing some "exercises" in my room, and....."
....and long story short he knocked his face on the wood frame of his bed that the mattress sits on....
Oh no. Not again. My heart skipped a beat when I opened his mouth & amidst the blood saw a big chunk of his gum hanging vertically down over his big front tooth. After further frantic assessment (and thanking our lucky stars that it wasn't his previously broken eye socket that had been hit as another blow there at this point could result in brain surgery) I ran to get my phone. After consulting with Chris, Parker's pediatrician, and a nearby pediatric dentist, we were off to the ER. Of course, there was a big snow storm coming and Chris had made the rare decision to take my car to work since I thought I wouldn't be needing it the rest of the day. That left me with Chris' 2-door car and an interesting arrangement of carseats, since their normal chairs were in my car 25 miles away in a pharmacy parking lot. (Why is it that emergencies happen at the most inconvenient times possible? I mean, normally, my car is sitting the garage, armed with car seats and ready to go. But of course not when I needed it most.) Thankfully I managed to stuff Emmie in her baby car seat and luckily we recently got an extra booster seat for Parker to make preschool carpooling easier or I would have been calling neighbors amidst the chaos to borrow a seat.
(This pic is post the stitch and is looking great compared to how it was a few hours earlier. The white/bluish chunk of gum tissue had been hanging vertically down the front of his tooth.)
Off to the ER we went, where they basically tied Parker up in a straight jacket to prohibit movement on his part. He calmly laid there, wrapped up like a "burrito" as they called him (he smiled proudly at the description), while they stitched his gum back up into place. They decided against numbing him and much to the amazement of the male nurse and doctor, he didn't make a single peep the entire process. No whimpers of pain, no flinches, no tears. We explained that he's a bit of a pro when it comes to the hospital scene. He was definitely braver than I would have been!
The next morning the stitch fell out, and we were back at the ER (at their request) to have it looked at again. It was too late to refix it successfully, so he ended up losing that chunk of hanging gum tissue. :(
His tooth didn't seem loose so they didn't think a dentist was necessary, but having worked for a dentist I knew he needed to be seen. (Hello?!) And THANK GOODNESS he was! Besides very traumatized tissue (above what you can see in the pic) the x-ray revealed a FRACTURE in the upper hidden part of the tooth! AGHH! I knew it wasn't going to be good. The hopeful news is that there is no visible separation at this time in the fracture, and sometimes the bone will heal itself back together. Sometimes. If not, an infection will occur and this will indicate that the tooth has to be pulled. Ugggh. Oh and wait. Not just one tooth - it would be his TWO front teeth! If they pull one tooth, they have to pull the one next to it as to not cause problems for the big teeth that will eventually move in. The doc said that there is about a 40% chance that this will have to happen & we'll know in about a month. I asked when those two teeth normally would fall out and the answer was 7 1/2 to 8 years old. Not to be vain, but my poor cute little guy might have a big gaping hole in his smile for up to FOUR years!? :( I know, I know - it's cosmetic right? But come on, more than that it could cause potential speech problems, self esteem issues, eating issues...the list goes on.
Lively little Parker, jumpin' on the bed
He fell off and bumped his head
Mama called the doctor and the doctor said...
"NO MORE MONKEYS JUMPIN' ON THE BED!".
That last part was an actual quote from the dentist, finger wagging included.
We'll see if it gets through to our little guy.
I can't tell you how many times I have told him not to do his "exercises".
(this entails jumping back and forth from his little foam Pottery Barn chair to his bed, mixed I am sure with some pretty awesome "tricks"...)
I was tempted to ask the ER doc where I could purchase one of those straight jacket things...my little "burrito" did seem to like it... ;)
We'll find out in the next few weeks whether or not we'll be mourning his teeth... meanwhile I am just trying to enjoy his precious, non-hillbilly smile while I can! :)
(This pic is post the stitch and is looking great compared to how it was a few hours earlier. The white/bluish chunk of gum tissue had been hanging vertically down the front of his tooth.)
Off to the ER we went, where they basically tied Parker up in a straight jacket to prohibit movement on his part. He calmly laid there, wrapped up like a "burrito" as they called him (he smiled proudly at the description), while they stitched his gum back up into place. They decided against numbing him and much to the amazement of the male nurse and doctor, he didn't make a single peep the entire process. No whimpers of pain, no flinches, no tears. We explained that he's a bit of a pro when it comes to the hospital scene. He was definitely braver than I would have been!
The next morning the stitch fell out, and we were back at the ER (at their request) to have it looked at again. It was too late to refix it successfully, so he ended up losing that chunk of hanging gum tissue. :(
His tooth didn't seem loose so they didn't think a dentist was necessary, but having worked for a dentist I knew he needed to be seen. (Hello?!) And THANK GOODNESS he was! Besides very traumatized tissue (above what you can see in the pic) the x-ray revealed a FRACTURE in the upper hidden part of the tooth! AGHH! I knew it wasn't going to be good. The hopeful news is that there is no visible separation at this time in the fracture, and sometimes the bone will heal itself back together. Sometimes. If not, an infection will occur and this will indicate that the tooth has to be pulled. Ugggh. Oh and wait. Not just one tooth - it would be his TWO front teeth! If they pull one tooth, they have to pull the one next to it as to not cause problems for the big teeth that will eventually move in. The doc said that there is about a 40% chance that this will have to happen & we'll know in about a month. I asked when those two teeth normally would fall out and the answer was 7 1/2 to 8 years old. Not to be vain, but my poor cute little guy might have a big gaping hole in his smile for up to FOUR years!? :( I know, I know - it's cosmetic right? But come on, more than that it could cause potential speech problems, self esteem issues, eating issues...the list goes on.
Lively little Parker, jumpin' on the bed
He fell off and bumped his head
Mama called the doctor and the doctor said...
"NO MORE MONKEYS JUMPIN' ON THE BED!".
That last part was an actual quote from the dentist, finger wagging included.
We'll see if it gets through to our little guy.
I can't tell you how many times I have told him not to do his "exercises".
(this entails jumping back and forth from his little foam Pottery Barn chair to his bed, mixed I am sure with some pretty awesome "tricks"...)
I was tempted to ask the ER doc where I could purchase one of those straight jacket things...my little "burrito" did seem to like it... ;)
We'll find out in the next few weeks whether or not we'll be mourning his teeth... meanwhile I am just trying to enjoy his precious, non-hillbilly smile while I can! :)
10 comments:
We love our little boys! Lincoln had a very similar accident last fall(minus the gum trauma), where he smacked his upper front tooth on a metal bar. The dentist told us the same thing about an abcess and losing the tooth and I too had fears of my 3 year old being toothless for 5 years! Thankfully after only a few months of slight discoloration, the discoloration reversed and he still has a darling smile! Hopefully Parker will be just as lucky! P.S. still waiting for a Bachelor update :)
Wow Michelle! How crazy! I don't even know what to say! You poor thing having so many injuries with your little "Monkey"! The one time Trey had stiches he was 5 and my neighbors told that I would have to get used to it with boys. Maybe thats why I only have 1...because I wouldn't handle the crisis situations very well!
Chloe knocked out one of her front teeth when she was 1 1/2. It was so traumatizing for Jake and I. The dentist said its way more traumatizing for parents. It was 1 week before my sister's wedding and all I could think about was the pictures and how Chloe would be missing a tooth. We had a fake tooth made but the dentist said it would be a hassle to take care of. By the time we went to have it installed 3 weeks later, we were used to her "Pirate Smile" and we love it now.
I hope Parker's tooth heals and that you don't have to go through the drama of having his teeth pulled!
I love that he was doing "excercises"! Too cute!
Keep up the brave work as a mother of a boy!
Ughhhh Michelle, what an ordeal! It looks like you may be a regular in the ER with your adventurous little guy. Way to go on trusting your mommy gut and taking him to a dentist. Thank goodness you did!!! And I will cross my fingers that he'll be able to keep those teeth. You're not vain at all, I would feel the exact same way! At least he was so brave...what a kid.
I'm sorry he got hurt doing his "exercises". He cracks me up. Sorry about the teeth. That is no fun at all. I kinda like the straight jacket idea.
Atticus has been missing a front tooth since he was one and I still think he's darn cute. So even if Parker does have to have them pulled he'll still be cute.
FYI Atticus hasn't had any speech or eating problems.
Oh my gosh! I think that your family has filled it's 'illness and injury' quota for a while! Geez, you guys have been through the wringer- Hang in there!
Oh wow Michelle! That's too bad! I bet that was so scary seeing that gum tissue hanging down. Yikes! Can you imagine the kind of ER visits you'll be making when that monkey is a teenager?!
Even if Parker does lose his front teeth he will still be super cute. You've got the cutest kids! Hopefully he won't have to though.
I had a similar experience jumping on the bed when I was two and my teeth took a chunk out of the wall. The front tooth was fine until I was five when it developed an abscess and had to be pulled. At that point it wasn't that big of a deal because kids my age were already losing teeth. I remember thinking it was cool.
All the kids Cameron and Jake know think it's really cool to lose your teeth. One of the four-year-old girls in our neighborhood has a big gap in between her front teeth and has convinced the other kids she has already lost a tooth.
Plus, I hear the tooth fairy is very generous if you lose a tooth when you are only four...
What an insane, crazy thing to happen! He is the cutest little guy ever. And you are the cutest most hip mom ever! Love that picture of you after church. I need you to come help me with my wardrobe please :)
I wish that my only single sister left wasn't 15. Instead, I am in the same boat you are with an almost 27 year old single brother! Only I don't have as good a track record as you. So if Chris's brothers don't hit it off with a cute girl, please send her my way ;)
Last, please tell me your eyelash secrets. I have always admired them (hope that doesn't sound too creepy), but I would love to hear what kind of mascara you use, do you curl them, etc.
Hope life settles a bit for you for awhile! Life needs adventures, but I'm sure you could do without ones that involve hospitals! Luv ya!
My heavens! I'm so glad he didn't hit his head/eye socket! Don't worry about the tooth though... Parker is so darling that missing teeth would only make him more endearing! On a side note, my kids do not have "beds" in their room - only a mattress on the floor because of the very same monkey jumping reasons! lol!
i think this guy must feel very comfortable in a hospital setting. don't you love boys!
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