Carols in the Hospital

I have been avoiding writing about this event. I have been replaying it a lot in my mind and it just makes me anxious scared and thinking 'what else could I have done?'. But here we go. It's probably good to get the thoughts, memories and feelings out of my mind.

This year was the 9th year of our church doing the local Carols. While we would have loved to do it at the park, we were uncertain if restrictions would change and the extra expectations with holding an event made us decide to continue with the plan of making it 'Carols in the Backyard'.

2 weeks before, James had spent the day with the team singing, dancing and recording the Carols at church. It was an amazing set up! They had a song for the kids to get up and dance to, so we headed to Church and Alexander and Eliza joined in for the song. It was fun watching them on the screens. Daniel wasn't keen to join in but did love seeing it all on the screen and watching how it all came together. James then worked hard to edit it and bring it all together.

We had the thought of doing the Carols on the same day as our street Christmas party and having it set up with a projector and screen, but once I spoke with Amelia, they had already organised for friends to go around for the Carols so we brought the street Christmas party a day earlier. Plan B was to invite our Mothers' Group around for it, after all we normally sit with them and enjoy it together so why not continue that this year. It was awesome that most people we able to come too!

We decided to make it Carols in our Carport. We cleaned up the carport area, set up the fake Christmas tree, moved out Alexander's little shelves and set up the TV outside. I grabbed some Christmas bush from Mum and Dad's place to decorate and we also got a couple of tables from Bunnings (we figured we would use these at different times so are helpful to have). We also set up the camping chairs (that we also just bought) and the picnic chairs.

We were quite excited to have everyone come around. The kids were rather impatient while they waited and watched each car come down the street and see that they weren't coming to our place.

But they came. The kids had a great time running around, playing with their friends and snacking. It made my first grazing platter which I was quite proud of.

I set up a couple of craft tables for the kids (water paint, crayons, Christmas colouring in). I had also made little reindeer cookies packs for the kids too which we were going to do after dinner. 

Eliza and Ems being creative

Chatting and playing

Mikey and Emma enjoying the water paint

Dinner was just a simple BBQ. Everyone brought something to share (salad, veggies, fruit, coleslaw, lemon meringue pie and ice cream, snacks). We provided sausages and kebabs and bread rolls and it was a serve yourself. The kids all sat on the front lawn to eat together. They are a great bunch of kids and I do just love how well they all play together.

Always have to have a silly photo

While I was sitting and eating my dinner, I got a call from Dad. I moved to the kitchen to chat to him and then I heard a big scream. It was Eliza. I thought she might have hurt herself a little bit and then the next thing I saw Neil rush inside with her over his shoulder, blood pouring onto his shirt. I hung up on Dad and rushed to them. Thank goodness I was there. Thank goodness Neil was there to see what happened! The poor guy saw it happen. He said it was an accident. As Eliza was climbing down the ladder of the trampoline, another little girl accidentally stood on her dress and she slipped flipping upside down. Her face hit the bottom beam of the trampoline. I grabbed some paper towel and just pushed it onto her lip and inside her mouth. I heard what sounded like her tooth crack a bit. It freaked me out, but with the amount of blood, I needed to put pressure on. We moved away the paper towel and saw 2 holes in her chin. James came in and tried to call Poornima, our dentist. One of her teeth were pushed quite far back, another one a little bit back, and then a lot of blood. But being Sunday night, of course they were closed and weren't picking up. We couldn't find an emergency number either. Louise was amazing and sat next to me on the ground with wet paper towel, wiping Eliza's blood off her hands and legs. She was so calm which really helped me stay calm. Looking at her chin we decided that she needed to go to hospital. Her teeth had gone through her chin and we didn't know if she would need stitches or of she would need glue or what. 

Neil was amazing and offered to drive us to the hospital. Louise wouldn't let me drive her there (which I'm grateful for because I wouldn't have known where to park and how to juggle her getting to emergency, me parking and walking up, etc). It was so much easier for him to drive and drop us off at emergency and then head back to everyone. Siobhan and Sam had just arrived at our place and Siobhan came up to me asking if I'd like her to come to the hospital too. I asked if she was sure... then asked if it was ok and then said yes, that would be nice. So she hopped into the front of the car. Eliza was amazing and had managed to calm down. We rinsed her mouth out a few times with salt water, but were also conscious of checking if she spat out a tooth. Fortunately she didn't. Just a lot of blood. We put an ice pack her chin but she wasn't so keen to have it there. It was so cold (the whole point of it) so she wasn't keen to have it on her, and I wasn't going to force it.

We headed to the hospital and Neil dropped us at the emergency entrance. We went in and were triaged pretty quickly which was good. There were only 2 or 3 other people sitting in the waiting room which was good. The triage nurse took our temperatures. Mine was 37.4 (wasn't expecting it that high. She asked me if I had any covid symptoms, I said no. She checked it again and it still was that night. She was concerned, but said I was .1 degree under so I could have a green spot (the symbol to show that you are ok). She checked Eliza's temp and it was 37.1, and also commented that it was high. When I thought about it after (when I got home my temp was 36.8) I think adrenaline was just pumping through me and that must have made my temp so high, because I honestly can't think what else it might have been. She asked me what happened and when I mentioned she was on a trampoline with another friend, she commented that more than 1 person on a trampoline is never good (way to make me feel bad. Although would I change it? Probably not. They have more fun when jumping with friends). She looked at Eliza's chin and asked what we had done. I told her that we applied pressure to her chin and teeth, that we rinsed it a few times with saltwater and that we put some ice on it. She responded positively saying that was good. She asked me how long the ice was on, I said '5 maybe 10mins. She wouldn't let me keep it on much longer and I didn't want to force it'. She repeated 'only 5-10mins. Oh ok'. It felt quite judgemental which wasn't very nice. But what could I do? Force her to have it on while she is already traumatised and stressed? Nope. She had calmed down and I wasn't going to force anything unless I had to. Anyway, after feeling judged and like I was a bad mum for how I handled this, she found that there was a room that we could go into. While we sat there I messaged Siobhan saying that if she wanted to get picked up she could because it seemed that she wasn't allowed in as well. She was going to get Sam to come and pick her up and then she appeared in our room. Apparently when she asked the nurse to take in some drawing books that we brought for Eliza, the nurse said she was fine to go through. We were confused but it was nice to have her there too. 

While we waited we held the ice and paper towel on Eliza's chin. We asked a nurse if it was ok to use our phones in there and she said it was so we put on the Carols. We were able to see the kids song which was really cute and Eliza liked seeing herself dance to the song. I had to fill in the forms for Eliza too. For a while there, she wasn't in the system because she was still listed as Baby Noble (having been born there and not having been back). But they eventually found her in the system.

Watching Carols while filling in paper work

I should also mention that James couldn't come to the hospital because he needed to start the online Carols at home, even though he was wanting to be with us. We were messaging each other during the time though. James was asking how Eliza was and I said she was chatting, she was smiling and she was being so very brave! I sent him this photo. We had a chuckle when Todd and Emma said 'We hope you are having a very fun night' so something like that and Eliza responded with 'I have not had a fun night!' Fair call.

Eventually the doctor came to visit Eliza and looked at her chin. He told me that we were in the wrong place and that we should be at the dentist. I told him that we had tried calling our dentist but they weren't answering. He then gave me details for an emergency dentist in the morning if I couldn't get into ours (I was pretty sure that we would be ok though). He said that the dentist would need to reposition her teeth and do an X-ray to make sure that there were no breaks (with teeth or jaw). There was no need to admit her (which is good. Didn't even think that would happen). He gave her some baby Panadol for the pain (which she said she really didn't like) and iced water to sip, swish, spit with. That was all he could do. 

The information from the doctor

I'm so glad that Siobhan was there with us. Even just to be someone to chat with, for Eliza to chat with and kinda forget what had happened.

We stayed a little bit longer as the bleeding had slowed down we decided to head home (the doctor said to go home when we were ready). Eliza was so chatty and bubbly, it was really amazing to see! Siobhan kept asking her questions about school, about the Carols, about how she was and Eliza was totally fine with responding. I couldn't believe how well she was going. She found it quite funny that her 'sh' sounds and some other sounds were not sounding right, but she understood that her teeth were making it hard to speak properly. We paid the out of pocket cost and then Sam kindly came to pick us up. The waiting room was a lot busier when we left. So glad that we got there when we did. Here is how her teeth looked when we left.

Not in the right places, but glad that they haven't fallen out.

On our way home Eliza was excited to see some Christmas lights so Sam very kindly did a drive past the Oakleigh Ave Christmas lights. Eliza was so excited, pointing out everything she could see. It was so lovely to see her smiling and enjoying it all. I commented that it is amazing how chatty she is when she only had Panadol as medicine. Sam said 'I was wondering what they had given her'. Nope, no laughing gas or anything, just Panadol. 

We got home to see that Anne and Angus and the kids were still here as well as Sam and Siobhan's kids. Everything had been packed up by everyone which was so amazing! The washing up was done, food packed away. Just one less thing to think about. I had some tears when saying thank you and bye to Anne and Siobhan. They are just amazing friends! I sent them this message before I went to bed thanking them all for what they did.

'Dearest beautiful Mummas,

I just wanted to say a very big thank you! Thank you for being here tonight. Thank you for having fun and chats. Thanks for yummy food (and for leaving some lemon meringue pie Anne!!) Thank you for your love and care for Eliza, James and I. Thank you to Neil for scooping her up, to Louise for wiping her down, to Preeti and Anne for helping clean up, to Anna for lending Neil to take us to the hospital, to Sam for picking us up and to Siobhan for coming with us and helping Eliza chat and laugh. I am so so grateful for each of you. Tonight with the carols (which we got to watch some of at hospital) we were singing about the birth of Jesus. For me, he is such a big part of my life and I was sending up prayers for Eliza when it happened and at hospital but tonight I’m going to be thanking him for my beautiful friends and support network around us. (I have done this often in the 8 years of knowing you super mums). I believe each of you were here for a reason tonight and I’m so grateful to have each of you on this crazy journey of parenting. By the way, Eliza is such a trooper. She is home and in bed. She is chatting and laughing and being herself. A trip to the dentist tomorrow to try and sort out her teeth but she is a super star. So much stronger than me!! I’ve cried more than her since it happened. Ha. Thanks again lovely ladies. I hope you and your families were able to still have a fun night.'

The kids were excited, worried about Eliza but also quite tired. We put a towel on her pillow so that she could go to sleep. They took a little bit of time to settle but did get there. Amazingly Eliza slept through the night (I really struggled to get to sleep and then woke each hour. I was quite anxious about going to the dentist and what would happen. What if they couldn't fix her teeth, what if they needed to do major work? I just couldn't settle my mind. 

In the morning I made Eliza a banana milkshake for breakfast. I wasn't sure of what she could and should eat with her teeth. She loved having that though. She helped drop off Daniel at school and then Alexander at preschool. I called the dentist as soon as they opened at 8am and they were able to fit her in at 10am. Poornima told me that if an emergency like this happens again (hopefully it won't) to contact her using Facebook Messenger. She will check it faster than voice messages and will get back to me. Poornima and Kylie were absolutely amazing! She wasn't too sure if she would be able to move the teeth. It would depend on how Eliza coped with the pain but they were keen to try. It had been over 12 hours so she didn't know how easily they would move. If they couldn't move the teeth back it would just be left and when Eliza was older they would use bracers to help put them in line again. My heart sank. Eliza was the one kid who would possibly miss bracers! But I understood too.

They took an x-ray of Eliza's teeth and jaw and were quite positive after it. Poornima explained that the jaw wasn't broken, which was good, and that the teeth had moved but they thought they could push them back. The root of Eliza's teeth haven't fully formed so that was positive. It wasn't going to have nerve pain yet. 

Eliza was absolutely amazing! She lay and watched the tv the whole time. They gave her a needle to numb the area. They managed to push the teeth back in place (or as close to in place as they could) just by pushing them. Eliza didn't even flinch while they did it. While pushing the teeth back, one of Eliza's teeth fell out. My heart sank. These were her adult teeth. Poornima then commented that it was Eliza's baby tooth that fell out. This helped make the space for her other teeth to be moved back. I had tears in my eyes! They were just amazing, so good, so gentle, so kind with her. She said that Eliza was able to eat normal food but to just be careful with her teeth. No apples, sandwiches, etc until the glue that they used to put her teeth in place had set fully, probably 2-3 weeks.

You can see where the teeth were moved from. They were amazing!

They put her baby tooth in a special box to take home for the tooth fairy. She was especially excited that they tooth fairy let her keep the tooth because it was a special one.

The rest of the day was spent with my girl. We snuggled on the couch watching Blaze and Bluey episodes.

We had lunch together, although neither of us were that hungry. Then Eliza decided she wanted to make some muffins for Daniel and Alexander to enjoy in the afternoon. She did a lot of it by herself.

We played Frozen 'Go Fish' together too until we had to head off to pick up the boys.

We also went to Chiro to see Laina on Thursday to check her jaw. Each time we see her she asks 'Have any of the kids had a fall?' this time yes, she had. We headed to see her and she was again amazing. Her neck wasn't too bad and neither was her back. Laina commented that Eliza's jaw must have taken the force of the fall. She did some massage with it and said that over the next 6 months she will check on it.

A week later Eliza's teeth were healing well.

Since then, Eliza has had no fear of the trampoline. She has jumped on Emily's one (which I freaked out about) and has jumped on our one with Alexander. She hasn't shown fear with playing and running around, which is great. I'm really glad that she hasn't hesitated after this. Meanwhile my heart goes to my throat when she's on the trampoline or doing something that could hurt her teeth. I hope this feeling will ease but I am trying hard to not let it impact Eliza.

I was messaging Neil and he was saying that he kept replaying the fall over and over again in his mind. I feel so bad that it happened when he was watching but I'm so very grateful that he was there to see it and to help her straight away. I feel bad that his shirt got damaged too but he said not to worry about that. I keep playing in my mind seeing Neil bring her down and into the house. I keep playing how we treated her initially and I keep playing the scream in my head too. I'm sure time will help ease it and it has decreased but I do feel anxious about it still.

We saw Poornima this week and she said that she's really happy with the teeth and that Eliza can now eat normally again, so that is good. She also said that the glue has done it's job and will just stay in there. Unfortunately her chin will probably scar but it isn't heaps noticeable and I'm sure that over time it will settle even more. Again, so thankful for all that they did.

I am so very proud of Eliza and how she handled this whole situation! She is so very strong. So much stronger than I thought she would be. The pain was there but she didn't let it overwhelm her. The way that she just lay in the dentist chair was absolutely amazing! And to then comment that it hurt, she sure didn't show it. She slept through the night, she apologised for having blood on her dress (which could come out). She was nervous about how people would look at her but she showed real confidence and resilience at school the next day. She had some beautiful friends (Clara and Ethan) who looked out for her which I am so very grateful for. I asked Eliza if I could have some of her strong and brave juice and she laughed and said no. Others said that I was so strong through it all, but I honestly felt so weak. But I made it through, with tears happening often. 

I'm so grateful to God for the way his hand was over it all. Ways I saw his hand were:

-Neil seeing it happen and helping her straight away

-It was my own kid, not someone elses

-Each Mums' Group family at our place who helped out in a big way

-Getting triaged and into a room straight away at the hospital

-Not getting admitted at hospital

-Getting into the dentist on Monday

-The dentist moving Eliza's teeth back

-Eliza not even moving during it

-Eliza being so strong

-Clara and Ethan being willing to look out for Eliza

-One boy, Lachlan, Eliza was worried about teasing her at school. He had started holidays a week earlier so wasn't going to be there.

Plus many more that I'm sure I have momentarily forgotten.