We're not exactly sure what happened, but we know Nalani was running down the stairs and across the entryway to our home. Then, accordingly to our little girl, the vacuum jumped up and grabbed her and caused her to fall down (it wasn't that she was running in the house, of course).
The truly unfortunate part is that she must have been biting on her lip when she was running because when she hit the floor, she bit clear through her lower lip. It was so bad you could have put your pinky finger through it.
The poor thing bit clear through the left side of her lower lip. She needed 5 injections to numb the are before they were able to stitch her up. In anticipation of a scream and squiggle fest, the male nurses came in the room to wrap her up in blankets, pin her down, and immobilize her head. The female nurses came in to try to make her smile. (Sexist, maybe, but that's how it happened!).
The doctor was worried because the bite went through the bottom of the lip, but also through the surrounding skin. If she didn't hold still, it might be difficult to stitch her cleanly and avoid the lip healing up unevenly.
But Nalani was so brave. She never cried once and held still the entire time they were injecting her and stitching her up. It was amazing. The doctor asked her questions and she nodded yes or no, but never lost her cool.
The tough part is that they don't stitch up her inner lip -- only the outer. The doctor said that there is so much bateria in her mouth (as is the case with all of us) that you cannot sew it up on both sides or it could lead to an infection inside. So this little girl has a big gash in her mouth that is an open wound, so she cannot drink juices (too acidic) or even go to McDonalds like I had promised (the fries are covered in salt). They even want her to avoid anything but soft bland foods for the next few for fear it could irritate or reopen the wound.
This poor little girl had such a bad experience. But just look at our wonderful ray of sunshine even now, just a few hours after it all began...
What a terrific, amazing little girl!
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