I Just Want You to Know_ Letters to My Kids on Love, Faith, and Family - Kate Gosselin [39]
I picked my way over to the dressers and pulled out clothes for church and shut the door on my way out. I didn’t see the room in that shape again. Carla and her husband cleaned the entire room by the time we got home, and it was as good as new—with only the patch of missing drywall to remind me.
Notice the missing drywall.
One night, when the little kids were two and a half, we were all upstairs in the nursery playing before bed. I was exhausted as usual and was laying on the floor while they were playing on top of me. The girls would play with my hair while the boys drove their trucks on my back and arms and legs, like I was a highway—a toddler massage. Hannah came over with a heavy plastic piggy bank and dropped it on the corner of my eye and eyebrow. I felt pain shoot through me as I gripped my head.
Blood was everywhere, and I thought I needed stitches. I figured we couldn’t go to the hospital. Who would we get to watch the kids so Jon could take me? The cut ended up not being as bad as I thought, so I just put pressure on it and then a pressure bandage. I was okay, though I have a nice scar. Hannah felt sad that she gave me an accidental “boo boo” and offered me “cake.”
Between injuries and bloody noses, I have to do some kind of first aid or get out the Band-Aids every single day. Blood and injuries no longer cause panic. They are as normal as mealtime!
Another time after we put the little kids to bed, Jon and I were in the garage opening and organizing fan mail and packages. Cara and Mady came down and said someone was crying. We asked if they could go see what was wrong; but after ten minutes went by, they didn’t come back to tell us what happened. So we went upstairs to check it out, thinking the girls just settled whoever it was back to sleep.
They were near Leah’s toddler bed, trying to calm her. I don’t know why they didn’t come back and tell us what was wrong. When I asked them, they said, “Mommy, we felt something wet on her forehead when we were putting her back into bed, and thought it was just tears.” We figured Leah had thrown up so Jon grabbed a flashlight and went in to investigate. He quickly realized it was blood, so he grabbed Leah while I went in and started cleaning up.
The blood was everywhere! I thought she had had a bloody nose, until Jon realized when he was bathing her that Leah had a huge gash on her forehead! It was about a half inch long, and while not deep, it was gaping open. I put a pressure bandage on it, gave her Tylenol for the pain, and let her sleep in our room that night so we could keep an eye on it.
In the morning, the wound was still weeping blood a little bit, so I called a neighbor who was an emergency room nurse to come over and take a look. I didn’t want to subject Leah to stitches on her head unless it was absolutely necessary as it would cause her more pain and agony. My neighbor said Leah could probably use a stitch, she wasn’t sure, so she got some Steri-Strips and we bandaged her together. We kept the wound clean and covered it in antibiotic cream.
I still don’t know what happened to Leah, and that left me a bit unsettled. But God knew exactly what happened, and I knew he loved Leah more than we did—which was mind-boggling, because I love her a lot. I prayed that he would protect her little head and help it to heal without a scar and without infection. Mostly I was thankful he did not let something worse to happen to her. She healed beautifully.
Leah’s boo boo.
During the first winter in the Elizabethtown house, the flu was going around in our family. One afternoon all the kids were settled into their beds for a nap, and Jon was out doing errands with Cara and Mady. Alexis, who was the last one to get the flu, was resting in a makeshift bed on the floor of our bedroom while I was at the computer. Sitting with my back