...it rained.

And as the old saying goes, when it rains, it pours. It started as our ordinary day. The older three kids were at school, the three little ones and I had just gotten back from errands. The kiddos were watching tv, and I was doing paperwork in the kitchen. It was calm and relatively peaceful for once, and then I heard the scream. I ran to the living room, which can be seen from the kitchen, and saw the blood trail. Our dog had bitten baby boy. In all the commotion I gathered it was a fight over the beloved blankie. Baby boy loves it and cannot live without it.

It was very apparent that baby boy needed some minor medical care. I called the pediatrician, usually you can get in in minutes, not today, he advised I go to the ER at the children's hospital. I've been there on several occasions, an ER visit is six hours on a good day. I am blessed to have a telecommuting husband, I could go with the injured party and leave the other two with daddy.

I tried two urgent care facilities, one closed, the other didn't have pediatric supplies, but looked the wound over and decided it could probably be closed with glue. Yippee, I can go to the pediatricians office, but wait, before you leave, we need information on the dog so the city can quarantine him for ten days.

Back in the car, on the phone with hubby, get the dog to the vet, before the city comes, call the pediatrician and let him know we've seen a doctor and don't need the ER. Call the caseworker and find out what else we have to do. Call waiting, eldest daughter, needs picked up, not gonna happen. I have less than 15 minutes to get to the pediatricians office before he closes for the weekend.

There I am running a screaming, bleeding kid into the hospital where the pediatricians office is, in the elevator, ding, ding, ding, ding, out of the elevator, down the hall, the door is locked. We still had eight minutes, Mrs. doctor peeks her head out of the other door, come in this way. Doctor gives baby boy a quick once over, he can do it, but warns me there will be screaming and gnashing of teeth. I'll have to hold him, can do. Texting hubby, to see if he can get the caseworker to watch the two babies and come help me hold down baby boy. Before I finish T9ing doctor informs me he is out of something and I'll need to go to the ER. NOOOOOOOOOOO, he says "this is minor, it won't take long." Apparently he's never been to the ER. It was still three and a half hours until the pediatric urgent care center opened, defeated I head to the ER.

We arrived at the ER at 1:30. Reason for visit, dog bite. Animal control showed up before we'd been triaged. It was after two, eldest daughter should be home. Hubby couldn't take the dog to the vet until she was home, his vehicle is not equipped for baby seats, and I had them in my car anyway. Luckily she was home, and the dog was at the vet. $300 for ten days boarding.

Three o'clock. Asked the couple next to me how long they'd been there. They were there for four hours, got in a room, sat in that room for an hour, was sent to radiology, waited there for one or two hours and had been back in the ER queue for about an hour. How long has it been. They decided it was between seven and eight hours at that point.

Shortly before four my husband calls, big middle boys bus is over half an hour late. Hmm? He's going to call the bus place, wants to know if I'm getting any closer. Nope.

Four o'clock. Phone rings, unknown number, I answer and hear freaked out screaming and crying. I have no idea who it is. It's big middle boy, scared he'd gotten on the wrong bus. He's eight, I assured him that daddy was looking into it and that daddy would be at the bus stop when he got there.

Five o'clock. Hungry, cranky. Oh forgot to tell you. Was informed at triage that "we may have to sedate him for stitches, no eating or drinking" which meant no eating or drinking for me. Still three ahead of you. I go for a walk and the cigarette smokers seem to be enjoying themselves, maybe if I smoked I would be enjoying myself, maybe I'd already be dead, probably wouldn't kill me quickly enough to pick up the habit now.

The guy ahead of me comes out and tells me the guy in front of him just went it. Finally. 5:35 we get the nod. Back in the room, won't be long now. Then I see the paramedics, a very young child and hear, LOC. It's going be awhile.

5:45 doc comes in. Starts cleaning the wound that dried HOURS ago. This does not please baby boy. I inform doctor number three that doctor number one said glue, doctor number two said one stitch top, one bottom. Doctor number three is rubbing furiously to get the dried blood off. I suggest putting a wet compress on it and letting the blood loosen up before we start rubbing his face any more. Good idea, I should have gone to medical school. So, I'm holding wet compress on his face and he falls asleep. Doctor number three says let's sedate, I ask what that means time wise. A couple of hours after to see how he recovers. I say let's hold him. Ok we'll try.

7:15 doctor number three comes back and says, sorry, can't find anyone to hold him, we'll have to sedate. NOOOOOO, I'll hold him. Mom's don't usually handle that too well. Well I'm not most moms, let's do it. Oh wait, here comes a 300 pound linebacker, he can do it.

We go through the whole process of pappoosing baby boy. One pillow case encasing the arms behind the back. One bed sheet wrapped three times around baby boy, back board strapped down. Hey let's go get some supplies. Baby boy is a sweater. He sweats walking down the hall. He was drenched in the couple of minutes it took them to gather their supplies. Ok, so they are cleaning, and numbing and they start to sew. Baby boy is screaming, I ask him what's wrong, it hurts, they want to give him more shots, I ask him what hurts, my head. The big guy was holding his head to hard. Switch with me. So, there I am holding baby boys head, he's not happy, but we're getting it done. Doctor three makes the comment, that had she known we'd have been out of there two hours ago. Had I not really wanted to go home, I'd have thrown her down.

Ok we're done, must wait in lobby for discharge papers. 8:15. Limit his activity for the next week. He's two, wish me luck. Off to the pharmacy. Home by 9:00. So from the time the doctor decides she'd start until the time I get home, about an hour and a half, and that's with a trip to McDonald's and Target. So, what could have been two hours turned into NINE. And waiting for me when I get home is phone calls and paperwork so I can launch upon myself an investigation as to whether I was providing adequate supervision and whether or not my dog is dangerous.

Of course I'm trying to focus on the silver lining. My hubby was able to keep the home fires burning, watch the kids, get the dog taken care of, make sure the big middle boy was ok and not on the wrong bus. He was able to meet big middle boy, so that the trauma from the bus ordeal was not compounded with not having a parent to meet him. Eldest daughter was able to help, and was apparently very helpful. Baby boy and I got to spend nine hours together, with no interruptions. I was able to stave off, not only a nicotine addiction, but an assault record as well. So, when all is said and done, a good day, but I'm hoping tomorrow will be better.