The Removal

The big removal of the stitches was last Tuesday. Sarah, Jackson, and I walked into Mebane Pediatrics bracing ourselves. Well, I was anyway. There in the waiting room was one of my students. He looked at Jackson and asked, "What's wrong with him?" "Nothing", I said and proceeded to show him Sarah's boo boo. I told him he would probably hear her screaming. The next day at school Kaleb came up to me and said "I heard your little girl." "I am so not surprised", I replied.
It was awful, horrible. I don't know what was worse- getting the stitches or taking them out. Dr. Bailey tried to sit her in my lap and have me hold her still. Yeah, right. I could have told him that that wasn't going to work before we even started. He called in reinforcements, and our favorite nurse, Jan, came in to help. She wrapped Sarah up like a cocoon. She papoosed her. It did keep her from wriggling so much, but I felt sorry for her. She couldn't move. The whole time Dr. Bailey was "working" on her she was screaming, "Stop it!" "No! Don't do that!" She has finally learned that she has a voice, and she is going to use it by golly! I asked her if she wanted to get some ice cream and she immediately started telling Dr. Bailey that he was all done and that she wanted ice cream. She refused Mrs. Jan's offers of trips to the prize box because she was getting ice cream. When Dr. Bailey finally did finish. She said, "All done. Thank you." How nice. My daughter remembers her manners even during the most traumatic moments of life. I guess I am doing something right. 

This is the only picture I have of her after her stitches came out. It was Friday night and I had just taken off the butterfly band-aid thing they put on it. Dr. Bailey was afraid he had split the cut open because the stitches were so tight- which was why Sarah screamed so much.