Ethan's Tooth

By now, I am sure most of you have heard this story, but since this is for posterity and a few of you haven't heard, I will share the gory details of my poor baby's little mouth. On Thursday, 2 days after Ethan's b-day and 5 days before Christmas, I was feeling good. Shopping was finished, most of the presents were wrapped, the stockings were hung, cards were out, we were way ahead of the game. I was caught in a weak moment and allowed four of my children to invite a friend over for the day. It was actually great. They all played well together and everything was happy, until.....Ethan comes inside through the back door, covered in blood, crying a very sad, painful cry. Davis had been outside with his buddy practicing swings with his metal golf clubs, and yep, Ethan walked in the wrong place at the wrong time. Smack! Right in the mouth.

Of course, my friend had just arrived with her four children, so we had a house full! I grabbed Ethan and noticed his lip was split open, thinking this is okay...lips heal fast. Don reminded me, "Check his teeth". My heart sank because I knew there was too much blood for just a split lip. I peeked inside and there was his tooth (the size of Texas) sitting in his mouth and a cavernous hole was in it's place.

That meant TWO of my five children lost their teeth at a very young age! Why does this happen to me?? Oh yeah, because I have obsessions with teeth. That's why. Anyway, we calmed him down and I called my dad, forgetting he was recovering in the hospital. I called my dentist friend who said there was nothing we could do to save the tooth. Ethan finally fell asleep in Don's arms.

Hours later he woke up and didn't want dinner. I figured he would be getting "sick" soon because I was sure he had swallowed too much blood. He did get sick, but it didn't stop! He couldn't keep anything down and was so sick for almost 3 days. At first we were worried it was from the trauma of being hit, or something, but when his sisters started throwing up, we realized it was just the flu. By now, it was Sunday, and Monday was Christmas Eve. Poor little Ethan had to deal with being so sick on top of all the pain and trauma of his little mouth. Thank goodness we were "ready" for Christmas because all we did those 3 days was hold him.

I took this picture of him sleeping because he slept more in those 3 days than I thought was possible. Poor baby. Even though it was such a sad, horrible thing to watch him go through, we know it could have been SO much worse and know that he was protected from any major harm. Sure he'll be toothless for the next 4 years, but we've already dealt with that one!