Colton's Birthday Crash

Sunday night Dan had run to the store for laundry detergent and I had just gotten the kids out of the bathtub and into jammies.  It has been a pretty exhausting day because the kids were still wound up from Saturday’s birthday party and the knowledge that Mama had taken off on Monday to spend Colton’s birthday doing fun stuff with them so I was counting down the minutes (which I thought were literally seconds away) until everyone was in bed and I could have a few minutes of alone time.  Colton and I had read our books for the night and for some reason he got out of bed to get something off of his train table.  As he is running back to his bed, he trips over his feet (graceful like his Mama) and the next thing I hear is a huge thunk.  I didn’t actually see the fall but just heard the noise.

He has fallen head first into his bed frame.  To be honest this is nothing new.  Colton has no fear and as a result falls into things on a pretty frequent basis.  My first thought was… “Well that will be a nice bruise on his head for the pictures that we have scheduled in the morning.”  It was such a loud thud that it never occurred to me that it could have actually been his mouth.  I swear that sound haunts me now.   I scoop him up and see that there is a ton of blood of coming from his mouth.  The first thing that I see is there a small cut on his lower lip that is bleeding pretty significantly.  As I’m taking him into the bathroom to clean him up he starts spitting up blood.  I sat him on the washing machine and see that his upper lip is also busted on the other side.  At this point I am trying to assess how bad the cuts are and then Colton starts pointing to his teeth.  There is so much blood in his mouth now that I think that one of his teeth is gone.  How I did not just pass out at this point I will never ever know. 

At this point Brynn has heard Colton (who never cries for more than a couple of seconds) screaming for several minutes. She wanders into the hallway from her bedroom and I don’t want her to see all of the blood (she is super sensitive) so I tell her to find my cell phone and put on shoes because we are taking Colton to the doctor.  With Colton on my hip I started running around trying to find shoes and my keys and to comfort him at the same time.  Brynn brings me my phone and I text poor Dan with “hospital!”.  I continue to wipe up blood with a rag and eventually realize that Colton’s tooth is not missing but it is crazily misplaced.  It is actually turned and pushed back.  Again…still amazed that I didn’t pass out! 

I go downstairs in an attempt to find keys and find Brynn trying to stuff her feet (clad with footie jammies) into a pair of dress shoes that are two sizes too small.  I tell her to find different shoes while I look for my keys.  She returns moment later with her snow boots on…whatever, that will work.  I still can’t find my keys but Dan has now gotten my text and calls me to find out what the heck is going on.  I am near tears at this point and tell him just to get home because we have to take Colton to the hospital because he has fallen and knocked his tooth out.

I get both kids buckled into the car and climb in the back with Colton who is still spitting blood and crying hysterically.  All he wanted was for me to hold him and I have never been so tempted to take him out of his car seat and do just that!

Dan arrives within a minute and we drive like bats out of…well you know where…to the hospital.  Dan drops Colton and I off at the door and once Colton is back in my arms he starts to settle down.  There is still a little blood and his face is starting to swell but he is calming down.  By the time we were called back to see the doctor he looks like he has gotten beat up but he is playing a little bit.

We see the ER doctor who is one of those people who prefers video games to actual personal contact…just a guess.  Colton will not even open his mouth for this guy (probably related to the fact that the doctor appeared afraid of children) so he calls in a nurse for back up.  Poor Dan had to hold Colton while the nurse held open Colton’s mouth and the Doctor looked at it.

The prognosis…nothing needs to be stitched up (thank God!!) and he needs to see the dentist first thing in the morning.

Dan and I went home for what was probably one of the longest nights of my life. Colton was in a lot of pain so I “slept” with him. He would sleep on and off but wake up whimpering and looking for me.  At some point I did fall asleep and I woke up to see Colton’s little face towards mine and blood was dripping out of his mouth and covering his pillow.  I did not sleep that rest of the night.

First thing in the morning (Colton’s Birthday) I call the dentist (these are seriously the greatest people in the world).  They tell me to come right away which is perfect because Dan and I are already on the way.  Dr. Quinn (who was my dentist when I was a child) took a look at it.  There isn’t much they can do at this point. The most important thing right now is to not mess with the blood flow anymore.  The roots are still strong.  Dr. Quinn believes that the tooth will correct itself somewhat though it will never move back to its exact original place again.  He gave Colton about an 80% chance of keeping the tooth.  Best case scenario is that he will have a very crooked baby tooth.  Worst case scenario is that the tooth will start to darken and they will have to remove it.  For the next 30 days we just wait…

Colton's first trip to the dentist.  He was terrified:-(

In the meantime my heart hurts so bad for the little guy.  His face was swollen for several days and he is on a “soft food only diet” for a week.  He is still having some pain and the slightest little bump to his mouth causes more bleeding.  I have gone over the whole thing in my head over and over again.  What if I had waited for Dan to come home before putting the kids to bed?  What if he hadn’t been wearing footie jammies?, What if I hadn’t allowed him to get back out of bed?  Sigh…just one of those times that you wish you could go back in time! 

Anyway, any and all prayers for my little man are appreciated more than you know!!

Fortunately cupcakes are on the "soft food only" diet!  I was trying to get a picture of Colton's tooth.  This doesn't really show how bad it is but you can see some of the bruising on his gums:-(