Kristin
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Posts by Kristin
Stitches, Derma-bond, and Scars – Oh My!
Sep 8th
After having had to take both of my daughters to the Emergency Room in their first two years of life for facial lacerations (try saying that five times fast!) I’ve done quite a bit of research on the best ways to reduce scarring in young children. There are lots of helpful tips on the internet and I’ve learned quite a few things both there and from doctors, a plastic surgeon included. When my girls’ injuries first happened, I was so caught up on how they would each be left with a terrible scar. It really bothered me and I was, and still am, determined to make them as invisible as possible.
So, I’m going to share with you some of the things that I have learned in case you are ever in this position with your child, or even yourself! Please note that my experiences are both with facial lacerations in the forehead region so other areas of the body may have different protocol.
First, if you have any doubt in your mind whether or not the injury may need to be stitched, go to the Emergency Room. If a wound does require stitches they must be done within a certain amount of time, generally six to eight hours, but the sooner the better. It’s also important to control the bleeding as much as possible by putting pressure on the wound.
When you arrive at the emergency room, be sure to tell the intake person about how the wound happened, whether or not the person lost consciousness, and the severity of the bleeding. They should ask you most of this anyway, but be sure to volunteer it if not asked. Then you will have to wait which is the hard part.
Once you are taken back into the room, be sure that you or your child are being treated by a doctor and not just a physician’s assistant or nurse. In the case of a facial laceration, or would in another very obvious/prominent area of the body, you may want to seek more than one opinion on it’s treatment. This is a piece of advice that I wish I had known before taking Nora in. Also, if the wound is going to require stitches you always want to ask for a plastic surgeon to perform them whenever possible. Remember you are the patient/parent and you have a right to ask.
Whatever the case may be, stitches, Derma-bond or just a dressing, be sure to care for it properly when you get home. When Brinley had her stitches we had to put an antibiotic ointment with a band-aid on it for a week and then we had to take her in to the doctor to have the stitches removed. For Nora’s Derma-bond we were told not to put any type of ointment on it and not to get it wet for the first 24 hours. So be mindful of the proper care because it’s not always the same.
When I took Nora in to see her pediatrician for her follow-up visit, that is when I found out that I should have gotten a second opinion on the way in which her wound was treated. Her pediatrician felt that since it was a facial wound that it probably should have been stitched. Though he didn’t see the wound fresh so he couldn’t say that matter-of-factly. It killed me to know that I may not have done the right thing for her but I really had no idea that I should have pushed back. Lesson learned.
The most important factor in minimizing scars though, is the care that comes after the stitches are removed or the Derma-bond falls off. The number one most important thing is to make sure that you apply sun screen to the area every single day for at least a year. Even if it doesn’t seem sunny out or it’s the dead of winter, the virgin skin can still burn very easily. You also want to massage the scar to increase the circulation and help promote healing. It is recommended to use vitamin E oil and massage it into the scar. It’s not known whether the oil itself helps diminish the scar or if it’s the massaging. Maderma or some other scar reducing ointment is also recommended.
I am happy to report that Brinley’s scar from almost two years ago, where she received six stitches, is hardly visible at all. Granted it is in her hairline, but it still healed very well. Only time will tell with Nora’s but I have very high hopes. It already looks 100 times better since the Derma-bond has fallen off. In fact, we were at a BBQ this past weekend and no one even noticed it.
Every time I think about one of my girls being “scarred for life” it really eats away at me. But I heard something on the radio this weekend that made me look at scars in a bit of a different light…. “A scar is like a tattoo, but with a much better story.”
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor and I do not claim to be one. I also don’t play one on TV. The advice given above is based solely on my experience of having two daughters who have both visited the ER and were treated for facial lacerations. Please be sure to seek your own medical advice from a professional.
Conversations with Brinley
Sep 2nd
Yesterday Brinley came into my room as I was getting dressed. It’s funny how kids have no sense of privacy or the need to knock. Not that I mind, really, and not that she hasn’t seen it all before. But I digress…
Anyway, I was standing there in my towel drying off from my shower. I dropped the towel, was standing there naked and about to pull on some clothes. She looked up at me and made a strange face. Then she said to me:
“Mom, how come you still have boobies if you don’t breast feed Nora anymore?”
I took all I had in me not to burst out laughing at her. But I didn’t want to feel ashamed or embarrassed or like she shouldn’t ask me those types of questions. I love how inquisitive she is but sometimes a child’s innocence is sheer hilarity. I held in my laughter and attempted to explain to her that once you have boobies, they never go away (for the most part) even after you finish breast feeding a baby. She seemed satisfied with that answer, thank God, and just said, “Ok, mom” and scampered out of the room.
Evolution of a home – living room.
Sep 1st
One of the benefits of buying a home that is For Sale By Owner (FSBO) is that you get to know the owner/seller. I realize that some people may not view this as a benefit, but it our case it was a huge plus. They were extremely helpful and very informative through the entire process. They answered every single question that we had to the best of their knowledge. As the new owners of the home it’s great to be able to get in touch with them if we have any questions (and we have). They moved out of state but they’re the type of people where if they’re ever back to visit, we’d love to have them over for dinner!
Anyway, another added bonus of “knowing” them is that they were gracious enough to share with us pictures of how the home looked when they purchased it. This was very neat to us. It has also allowed us to see how the home has evolved over the years. It’s quite awesome. As I mentioned before, our house was built in the late 1960’s so even though it’s new to us, it’s not really new. The previous owners had the glorious job of removing all of the old wallpaper and painting all of the wood trim white. Both of which I am extremely grateful for! When we moved in, most of what we did was cosmetic.
I’m going to share with you bits and pieces of the house as it has evolved through the years. First we’ll visit the living room. I call this room the conversation room. It’s attached to the dining room and off of the kitchen. We don’t have a TV in this room and it’s used more for sitting and talking or reading. Our computer nook is also here though our laptop floats around the house with us most of the time. Anyway, here is what the room looked like, sans furniture, when the previous owners first purchased it a little over five years ago:
It was carpeted, had dingy walls and the window casing appears to be beige. What you can see is that the bay (or is it bow) window is a huge focal point. What you can’t see is that there is a beautiful fireplace on the wall to the right of the window. Otherwise, pretty basic and boring.
Here are the pictures of the same room from when the previous owners lived here:
Here you can see the work that the previous owners put into the room. They put a fresh coat of paint on the walls, painted the trim and window casing white, removed the carpet and refinished the hardwood floors. They did an amazing job! You can also see that fireplace that I was talking about. And notice how the window lets in a TON of natural light?! I love it!
When we moved in, we originally had our sectional in this room. It didn’t fit and was too overbearing here. We intended for it to go in the family room, but that room was a work in progress and we needed a couch somewhere! Once the family room was finished, we moved the sectional down there and were left with an empty space. The girls loved it because it meant more room for them to run around in and create a mess, but we knew it was temporary. Eventually we purchased furniture for the room and I’m happy with how it’s coming along. Here are pictures of how the room currently looks:
I took these pictures at night so there’s no sun coming in through the window but you get the idea. We’re planning to paint the wall behind the love seat and the wall where the fireplace is a lighter shade of green. We are also currently looking for a new, larger area rug. I’m sure I’ll put some pictures or something on the mantle eventually and I have to do some decorating in the desk area (pictures/cork board/etc). Oh and we need to get a more beefy looking curtain rod. The one that is there looks a bit too wimpy for the window. Other than that, I’m pretty happy with how it’s coming along! What do you think?
Becoming Mimi.
Aug 31st
(And I’m not talking about Mariah Carey.)
When I was a kid, it seemed like everyone called their grandparents some slight variation of Grandma and Grandpa. Maybe it was Grammy and Grampy or sometimes Nana and Papa or even Ma and Pa but nothing too different from that. Until I was pregnant with my first child I never gave much thought to what my children would call my parents and my husband’s parents. I guess I just assumed it would be some variation of the above. But then, at some point I came across a whole phenomenon where people would ask their parents what they wanted to be called. I’m not sure if this was always the way things were and I never realized it, or if it was something new. So, when I was pregnant with Brinley, I had the talk with my parents.
With my father (technically my step-father, but he raised me) it was a no-brainer. He would be Grampy in homage to my late grandfather. I knew the decision wouldn’t be as simple for my mother. To most, my mom is considered a young grandmother. She’s young at heart, on top of fashion and pop culture and looks amazing. So it was no surprise to me that she decided to pick something different as her grandmother name. After a little back and forth she settled on Mimi.
Before my mom chose this name, I had never heard it used as a grandmother name. When we were discussing it, my mom told me that she had a friend or something that went by Mimi and that she liked it. So it’s not that I thought it was completely original or anything. However, since becoming a mom I can’t even tell you how often I hear grandmothers referred to as Mimi. Yesterday alone I heard it twice within two hours.
The first one was at the doctors office yesterday morning. We were in the waiting room with a few other people and there was an older woman with a toddler. The toddler kept mumbling something that I couldn’t quite make out but started with ‘m’ and each time she said it the older woman would go to her. Within a few minutes Nora started yelling, “Mimi, Mimi!” I looked around thinking that maybe my mom was in the office for some reason (there are other doctors offices in the building) but didn’t spot her. I just brushed it off until I realized that she had understood the other toddler girl’s toddler-speak and that she had been calling the older woman Mimi. After we left the doctor’s office we did a little shopping. We were in the Carter’s outlet and I was inundated with adorable little girl’s fall clothing. Nora was in the stroller and Brinley was holding my hand as I got lost amidst a sea of coordinating tunic tops and leggings. Then it started again. “Mimi, Mimi!” Again, I looked around to see if my mom happened to be in the store as well, but she was not. I realized that Nora was referring to a woman who was shopping near us. She could only see the back of her and she had blonde hair like my mom. I laughed and said to Nora, “That’s not Mimi silly!” To my surprise, the woman turned around and said, “Actually, I am Mimi, just not her Mimi.”
At that point the woman and I got into a mini conversation about the evolution of Mimi and how she hears it all the time now even though she became Mimi seventeen years ago. And here I thought my mom was being original…. 
Image credit: zazzle.com
How the tables have turned.
Aug 27th
In my former life, as a teacher, I hated this time of year. It meant going into school to set up my classroom, memorizing students’ names, digging out the school year wardrobe and saying goodbye to the summer. It meant commuting and packing my lunch and setting the alarm clock. The lazy days of summer were over. Even though I worked in some capacity over every summer, I was still always outside and having fun.
Now I’m looking forward, in some ways, to the end of summer. It’s been very hot and humid and that’s getting old. I prefer the cool, crisp mornings of the fall. And I look forward to the changing leaves, apple picking and cider donuts. I’m also looking forward to more routine in our days. Summer is lots of fun and it means many spontaneous outings and vacations, but it can get a bit chaotic. By the time the end of summer rolls around there’s a sense of boredom and redundancy in our days. We’re all ready for a change. New clothes to wear, new meals to make, new places to go. And most importantly, time to head back to school!
Brinley is entering her second year of preschool this year. She’ll be going three mornings each week. I’m not sure who is more excited about it – me or her. She really misses school and all of the fun things that she does there. She loves being around her friends and doing all sorts of activities. She’s been asking for a few weeks when she will be going back. For me, it’s a mixed blessing. I’ll miss her company and the lax attitude of summer. I’ll miss being able to take our time getting out the door in the morning and sitting around in our PJs just a bit too long. But at the same time, we’ll have more routine once school is back in session. Three mornings a week we’ll get up, get dress and head off to school. Once Brinley is there Nora and I will have some one-on-one time together to do some of the fun things that Brinley and I used to do. I’m really looking forward to that. I used to dread this time of year but now I’m welcoming it with open arms!
