The Winn Family: Ouch!!!

A couple of Fridays ago my sister-in-law, Jennifer and I decided to take all the boys to Sea World. We needed to be back to pick up my niece McKinley at school at 3:30 so we knew it was going to be a quick trip. It has been so hot we were fine with not staying too long. The boys were really excited about playing in the new Sesame Street water play area. Once we got to Sea World we checked out the dolphins, sharks, and caught the Shamu show. We only had about two hours before we needed to leave so we got the kids in their swim suits and headed for the water. They all had so much fun cooling off. I gave the boys their 20 minute warning and not a minute later I watched as William slipped while climbing on an exposed pipe. He hit his chin. I got up and ran to him but he seemed to be fine, not crying, and not acting like it even hurt. He did bite his tongue and it was bleeding a bit, so I had him come over to my chair for a drink. I noticed a little blood on his shirt and about that time he turned to look at something and that is when I saw the open gash under his chin. We packed up our stuff quickly and headed to the first aid station. The guy cleaned it, medicated it, and closed it up with a butterfly band aid. I asked him if he thought it would require any further action and he confirmed what I was hoping we wouldn't have to do. He said he was going to need some stitches. So now Jennifer and I were in a bind. We had one hour before she needed to be at the school to pick up McKinley and we couldn't get a hold of either one of our husbands. The ER in Pleasanton is a little questionable sometimes, so we decided since we were already in San Antonio I needed to take him to an ER there. Luckily there is a nice new hospital right next to Sea World. So Jennifer dropped William and I off at the ER entrance and headed back to pick up McKinley. Now looking back she laughs because she can't believe she just left me there, but we were fine and I really appreciated her taking Keaton back with her so I didn't have to try to corral him in an ER waiting room. We waited for about 2 hours before they called us back. It didn't take long for the Dr to confirm that he would need stitches. Luckily Wilson arrived just in time to take over because I don't handle things like this well. I left the room when the Dr began stitching but William was screaming so loud and crying for me that I ended up going back in. I tried to turn my head not to watch but still caught a couple of glimpses, so of course I got a little queasy. The Dr finished up and I was able to pull myself together. Thank God for Wilson having a stomach of steel, lets just hope he will be around for every injury. If my boys are anything like their daddy we will have many more visits to the ER. There were still a few bloody gauze laying on the bed and William looked at them and said, "well, it doesn't look like I am going to die." Ha ha, he cracks us up! William heard a little girl in the next room crying and he stopped mid sentence and said, "whoa, we need to pray for that little girl." He proceeded to pray for her and asked Jesus to come and sing her a song so she wouldn't be scared. I was so impressed that in a time where he was hurting and scared he could stop and think of another person's needs. It was a great lesson for me to witness that kind of selflessness. After we were discharged we let him pick where he wanted to eat dinner then we headed back to Pleasanton to pick up Keaton. It was a crazy day and I am so thankful that his injury wasn't worse. He kept his stitches in for 7 days and then Wilson removed them. William asked that we put each stitch in a baggie so he could take them to show and tell at his school. He has a really cool scar now and loves to show it off.

The following three pictures are the boys playing at Sea World before the accident.