Our Five Ring Circus: Knocked Out: A Parenting Fear Come True

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Knocked Out: A Parenting Fear Come True

I had my evening perfectly planned out. A friend offered to take Dylan to basketball so I didn't have to take three other kids. A night at home is rare and I was thoroughly looking forward to it! I put on my pajamas and cooked a delicious dinner. While I cooked, I also worked on my planned blog post for tonight on fun Halloween play activities. I wanted to finish it early so my husband and I could spend more time together after the kids went to bed and so I could go to bed before midnight. Grant even made it home from the office earlier than usual. We were just getting ready to sit down to eat dinner when one of my parenting fears came true...


First came the thud, then the bloodcurdling scream.  I turned around to see Lily face down on the floor at Grant's feet. Blood was spraying everywhere. The moment that I dread every single time one of my children falls face first actually happened. There was no sigh of relief this time. There was only Lily shrieking,  "MY TOOTH IS GONE!"

I scooped Lily up off the floor and as we ran toward the bathroom, I noticed it. I immediately thought her other loose tooth had been knocked out. WRONG. She was missing her top front tooth which wasn't even loose at all.

I yelled out to Grant that her tooth was knocked out and he ran in to take over. I'm a wimp. I can't handle blood and I can't handle tooth gore. Even wiggly teeth make me cringe.  As I dialed Lily's pediatric dentist's emergency number I kept reminding myself that it was just a baby tooth and that it would have fallen out in a year or so anyway. But still...to have it come out that way is so awful!

Our plans for the evening changed completely. Instead of enjoying a relaxing evening at home, we spent hours in the ER. The truth is, nothing goes as planned when you have four kids and there's literally never a  dull moment! Accidents happen. Lexie and Lily were just playing and Lexie bumped Lily and sent her flying to the floor. Lily's tooth got knocked out and Lexie felt awful. It was just one of those things that I always feared would happen but honestly didn't really expect it to!

Dylan was coming home from basketball just as Lily and I were running out the door so he came along to help. Thank goodness because we couldn't get the blood to stop and Lily was panicking!  He was able to hold the towel on her mouth and calm her down while I drove the short distance to the ER.

We made it into a room quickly and by that point the bleeding slowed a bit. The wait to see a doctor, however, was unusually long and it resulted in one little girl who was exhausted from the traumatic incident.

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The doctor finally came in and said that everything looked okay. The tooth somehow came out with the roots still intact. There weren't any tooth fragments left behind, her jaw wasn't broken and the cuts in her mouth and on and around her lips would heal quickly. It was such a relief to hear that! The only lasting effect would be the fact that she quite possibly will have a hole in her mouth for over a year before her adult tooth finally comes in.  That definitely made me a bit sad, but I was relieved she was okay. It could have been much worse!

Just in time for Halloween, Lily has a Jack O' Lantern smile! (And a swollen nose and lips!)

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As soon as she was discharged, I took her straight to the convenience store and bought her a slushie. It was the least I could do! Rumor has it that the tooth fairy also needed to get some cash back...

By the time we got home, Lily was back to her vibrant, outgoing self! She's definitely tougher than I am. Most adults can't even handle getting a tooth pulled without pain, but she was acting like nothing ever happened!

That baby tooth was bound to come out in a year or so. It just came out (much) sooner than expected. At least she has an exciting story to tell one day and the word on the street is that the tooth fairy is going to leave her a larger amount than usual tonight. That tooth is a BEAST with those roots still attached. (EWWWW!) Those knocked out teeth just deserve more money!

Ironically, my friend came over for dinner on Monday night and we started reminiscing over the time when 11 month old Lily hit her face off of a ceramic floor while on vacation. As we ran toward her, we both expected her top two baby teeth to be gone. They weren't, but since that moment, I panic every time my kids fall face first.

 

Seeing one of my kids get a tooth knocked out has always been one of my top parenting fears and it was every bit as brutal as I expected. There was just SO MUCH BLOOD. I keep reliving that moment over and over again and it makes me cringe every time. We were just lucky up until tonight. I guess we are technically still lucky because only a baby tooth that would have come out in about a year got knocked out. It would have been much worse if it was Liam, Lexie or Dylan's tooth! And Lily took it like a champ!


Farewell, cute little baby smile that was still there just a few hours ago...

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...and hello, toothless!

Stay tuned for my Halloween content tomorrow! My blog is just about more than Pinterest-worthy content and sponsored posts. I started it to document my life with my kids 8+ years ago and I'll never give that up. Sometimes life happens and scheduled blog posts have to be pushed aside for real updates. I plan on sharing my family as much as I can from the good to the bad to the downright disgusting moments!

Here's to a MUCH calmer weekend! (I hope.) (Fingers and toes crossed.) (Please?)


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13 comments:

  1. That sounds so scary and definitely feeds on one of my parenting fears. I'm so glad Lily's okay and it wasn't worse. Things are never boring that's for sure.

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  2. OMG everytime my kids fall on their face, my biggest fear is they will lose a tooth! I'm so glad she was ok and so glad it was a baby tooth! Now that Brayden is getting real teeth I get so worried one of those will get knocked out!

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  3. Oh the poor girl! Kids are so resilient though, its amazing. Sadie knocked her two front teeth on concrete last year (I wasn't home for this) and they started to discolor but luckily they got better so we didn't have to pull. I swear these things are more traumatic for the parents than for the kids!

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  4. OUCH! So glad she's okay though. That would have scared me too!

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  5. Oh sweet girl. I'm so glad that she's alright! Thank goodness for big brother who helped along the way!

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  6. Ugh, I hate the sound of that dreaded thud! Brave girl! I'm glad she's okay and glad you made it through as well! XO

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  7. Bless her little heart! And bless your heart, too, Stef! Ugh, I hate that you're having to go through this. That is one of my main fears for my kiddos because it happened to my little brother when he was 3 or so. I'm so glad that she's OK. Such a tough cookie, that one!

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  8. Oh my goodness poor kiddo!! I am so glad she is okay, but that is so scary!

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  9. Oh dear! When I first started reading though I thought one of the KIDS got knocked out, so really, I let out a sigh with the tooth. Still traumatic though!

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  10. Poor sweet girl. So glad she took it like a champ!

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  11. So incredibly scary! I am so glad that she is okay. What a tough little champ she is.

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  12. Poor sweet girl!! I can't imagine how scary that must have been for all in involved!

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