The Hole in Claire's Head

I've got a ton of blogging to catch up on, but had to write about our recent trip to the ER with Claire Bear. On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I was at the park with some friends and their kids. We heard Claire crying and looked up to see her head bleeding. As I ran over to her, I could see how bad the gash on her forehead was and knew immediately we'd be going to the ER.

Luckily, Sam was home and he came up to the park and we headed for the ER with Claire (and Sawyer). (Jacob went home with my wonderful neighbor and friend. He was off playing and didn't even know we left.)
The drive to the new children's hospital seemed long, but once we got to the ER, things were busy. We were there for 6 hours, but there wasn't a dull moment. They numbed her head and put tape on it to keep the wound together. (Which is what you see in the first picture.) The ER doc and plastic surgeon evaluated it. They put in an IV line. She was sedated so they could do the stitches - 8 total (one inside and 7 outside). You could see her skull! Then she had to come out of the sedation and keep down fluids, which took a couple of tries.
Claire was incredible. She didn't cry the whole day after the initial fall. Look how cute and happy she is in the pictures! I think she actually enjoyed all the attention of Mom and Dad and all the doctors and nurses at the ER. (No competiting with Jacob that day!) The hospital was great and made her feel really comfortable (with Dora stickers and My Little Pony books) and Dad got her a new Cinderella toy.
We got the stitches out this week and it looks good. The Dr. said it would be visible for a few months, but would heal very nicely.
We're not really sure how it happened, but think she tripped on the wobbly bridge on the playground and hit a metal bolt on the side and she's heard me tell people how it looked like a hole in her head. So, when people ask her about her BooBoo, she says "I fell on the bridge and got a hole in my head".