Earthquakes, hurricanes, flooding oh my! Call me Chicken Little but I think the sky here in the DC area might be falling.
A little over two weeks ago I was in Ikea when it's sky started to violently shake. My first thought was "earthquake." If you are ever going to be in an earthquake try NOT to be in Ikea on the second level. The big box that it is was swaying back and forth with all the open ceiling ornament swaying in rhythm. I immediately crawled under a $69 desk. Not feeling much safer at this point. Let's just say Ikea is not known for their quality. 20 seconds in I start to tear up as I realize that Dane and Neve were in the Smaland, on the main level. I kept thinking this isn't an earthquake. I am in Virginia. Virginia doesn't have earthquakes, we have terrorist attacks. As soon as I evacuated the building I was looking for smoke from some sort of bomb or terrorist attack on DC. Unfortunately that felt more plausible.
Outside, I ran to the front of the building to find Dane and Neve. They were fine and didn't even realize that there was an earthquake. Probably due to the fact that they are both little movers and shakers themselves. Dane did comment that he was in the ball pit and that it was REALLY fun! It was fabulous to have them in my arms and we raced home in case after shocks were headed our way. All was fine at home and now it is a crazy memory.
Fast forward a week ahead and I am in Target buying last minute preparations for Hurricane Irene. All went well, It was hard to sleep as the winds and rain hit us. The power flickered on and off and a tree fell blocking our street. Clean up was minimal with the neighbors(great way to get to know your neighbors) and it looked as if no one had permanent damage. We honestly faired well and felt blessed.
Fast forward a week ahead and I am at my storm door watching rain fall furiously while the river underneath the car rises as the water rushes by. Waiting for it to come into the house. Oddly enough the police car in front of the house blocking/closing our road due to the flash flooding brought me comfort.
Ben ended up arriving home early at 4:30pm with a man cold and headed straight to bed. Later that evening we had our own disaster. Neve wouldn't eat her vegetables of course, so I sent her to her room until she was willing to finish her dinner.
A few minutes later Neve descends the stairs and all I hear is a rumble of plunk, boom, crash and finally a loud SPLAT followed by screaming. I pick her up and try to comfort her but when the crying doesn't stop I put her down to assess the situation. There is blood everywhere all over her face dripping to the floor. I go into nurse mode. Check her mouth-fine. Her teeth-fine. No abrasions on her face-check. That is when I see it. The large one inch long open by half an inch gash beneath her chin.
I turn to Dane "Go wake Dad, I need to take Neve to the ED." Dane aka Chicken Little proceeds to run up the stairs as if they sky is falling while screaming. "DAD, NEVE IS BLEEEEEEEEDDING!!! NEVE IS BLEEEEEEDING!!!! NEVE. IS. BLEEDING!!!!!" Clearly subtly doesn't come naturally to our kids.
Sweet Ben comes down in his man cold haze. I am in my crazy running around the house like a chicken with my head cut off state. All the while Neve is standing like a statue holding a paper towel to her chin while it is being soaked with blood. Dane at this point is asking for the fifth insistent time if he can watch TV since he finished his dinner and his vegetables. Really kid? Really!? I scream back "Not right now!" as I run around. Ben heads to the bathroom to try to not pass out from the sight of Neve combined with his head-cold lightheaded existence.
After a few minutes that felt like hours I am packed and swimming to the car with Neve. Okay a little of an overstatement, but the water was up to my calves and we were soaked by the time we walked out the front door and the fifteen feet to the car.
All the while I am trying to decide which ED to head to since we live in the middle of two. When what runs though my head. "Oh we'll go to option A ED since they know Neve and I, and have her records on file from her previous visits." After that mental statement I realize that is not somewhere where you want customer recognition. Then I hit my forehead as I realize our honest explanation for this is falling down the stairs. Yeah right, classic false excuse #1 for child abuse cases. I started to laugh because if not I was going to start crying, and I did not need to add more water to the situation.
We ended up driving 1-10 miles an hour and taking detours as police we're blocking multiple flooded roads. It was surreal. All the while Neve was so sweet just holding more paper towels under her chin and kept falling asleep while I screamed at her to stay awake in case she had a concussion.
Stopped at a road block waiting for access to a detour route
So what do I do while driving through all this crazy flooding and rain storming. Like any responsible driver I pick up my cell phone and call my Dad. My sanity level was running out and I needed a quick recharge to keep my sane battery going. As I explained to him everything and complained that maybe I wasn't strong enough because I was feeling so stressed out and about to loose it because of a minor ED visit for stitches in flash flooding.
His response, "Uh, Brynn you been in an earthquake, hurricane, and now flooding on the way to the ED all in the last two weeks. I think your reserve for handling stress might be low, that's all." Point taken. What a great dad. I felt buoyed up, so I hung up and tried to keep the car from becoming a boat.
We finally arrived to the ED. Our first question was from an elderly man, who saw Neve and said, "Oh no, what happened to your poor little girl?" I reluctantly replied. "Umm she fell down the stairs." I don't don't think he bought it. I should have used my time driving to come up with a better excuse. Spontaneous Jujitsu with her older brother, maybe?
After that everything went incredibly well. Neve turned on her charm. We looked at her doll magazine while medication numbed her chin, while listening to and singing Taylor Swift. She bandaged up her blood stained teddy bear with leftover medical supplies and helped him get stitches.
Who knew the ED could be so fun?!
She sweetly explained to the doctor and Nurse that "I was going down the stairs and putting my necklace on...(naturally the best time to accessorize for a klutz. At least she was a cute klutz) and then I fall." I added that we have wood flooring on our stairs and they shook their heads understandingly, as the nurse hung the phone up on child protective services.
Neve actually giggled as the doctor used the "silly string" to stitch her up, saying it tickled. She held perfectly still as she squeezed her bandaged Teddy Bear. I was so impressed and shocked by her behavior. She was a complete doll and all the staff commented on her good behavior.
I just smiled and acted like this was the status quo. "No surprise here, my daughter is an angel. Excuse me while I pull my jaw off the ground and check this little girls patient ID label to make sure she is my little Neve. Oh look it is, did you happen to give her drugs when I turned around? Morphine, maybe Ativan, a cocktails of sorts?"
As we were checking out, she actually turned to the nurse and said "Thank you for letting me come here today." They didn't even give her a toy for pete's sake! Just stitches. The dumbfounded nurse and I just stared at her, when the nurse finally said, "Uh, your welcome?"
One tired stitched up girl on the way home from the ED
Overall it couldn't have gone better. Neve and I had some fun alone girl time and were in and out in about two hours. I think we've had it with disasters though. During all this mayhem Dane did start school and we we're lucky Neve's birthday party was the day before the flash flooding, but that's a whole other post. For now I am going to go refill my reserves and enjoy the sunshine today.
Neve filling up her reserves that night in a disaster free zone.
