Brooke's head laceration/Late over gone wrong

If you are at all squeamish...DO NOT SCROLL DOWN! Thankfully, all the pictures I took were blurry.

Last night was going to be grand, "a late over" as we call it around our house. This is where instead of sleeping over, we just stay over late, then go to bed and sleep late the next morning in our own beds. The last minute event was planned, a few moms, several children, etc. The kids started by swimming as the moms were chatting. Everything is going according to the plan and then...Brooke just casually falls backwards, hits her head on a corner of a wall, while standing right next to me! She quietly sobs while I pick her up. I ask her to let me check out her head (like you say every time they hit their wee heads) and I look at my hand and it is covered in BLOOD! This just doesn't happen, it was supposed to be no big deal and we could all get back to the fun night. My friend, Lisa, helped find where the blood was coming from, with the help of a flashlight. Oddly enough, Brooke let her touch the head more than she would me. Well, Sage and Libby had a great time playing games, watching a movie and eating my personal favorite, "kettle korn" while I took Brooke home to clean her up and to decide further action. After staring at an inch laceration on the back of her head that looked like...well it was just too much for me to handle. I consulted with her Dad and took off to the ER (urgent cares are all closed when these things happen). Brooke was so brave, but didn't want to go. She never screamed even when the doctor said we needed to put her back together again. The doctor wanted to use a needle, I firmly suggested the liquid numbing stuff. He consented after explaining that it takes longer for it to work. If you have ever experienced that needle, you know that you don't need a 2nd time around to know it is not for you, me, or any of my CHILDREN. The nice, jovial doctor, placed 3 staples and some glue stuff on the laceration. I was so impressed by my sweet daughter that just wanted to know what was going on and accepted that mom would do the right thing. It broke my heart to tell her that I couldn't fix it this time, the doctor needed to do it. She fell asleep about 5 minutes after it was over (10:30 PM), she was all done. Brooke slept with me and never once asked for medicine. She did have trouble sleeping several times, trying hard to find a good position to sleep in. She is a stomach sleeper, so that helped a lot, since the laceration is at the back of her head.

Brooke woke up alert and acting completely normal, a little tenderness. She even attended her dance class today. Amazingly, she can wash her hair tomorrow and go swimming. The staples will be removed by her pediatrician, next Friday.

This is the head of one TOUGH little girl. Life is precious, enjoy every moment :)