Our engagement, Part III, The Wedding Dress Fiasco or Christi needs stitches.

This story is about the day Carla and her mom went to buy the wedding dress. I was going to keep Chrisit while she and her mom went shopping for a wedding dress. OK, this would be the first time that I kept Christi by myself. Carla’s dad had something to do, so it would be just me and 2 year old Christi. Have I told you yet that Christi was a handful and up to this point I had not changed a diaper. There was always someone else around to do that.

Well, I did what any normal red-blooded American boy would do when faced with this situation. I took her home to moma. No kidding, I made arrangements to take Christi to my mom’s house and she could help me keep Christi. Remember this is going to be her grandchild. She did it willingly.

Everything was going great. Christi was playing and having a good time. I was feeling pretty good about myself. Then it came time to eat. You remember the bar that I was sitting at when I told Mom that I was getting married. I was sitting in the same stool and Christi was sitting beside me eating. For some reason, Christi wanted something that was on the other side of the bar and I couldn’t reach it unless I got up and went around the bar to get it for her. BIG MISTAKE. Before I got up, I told the 2 year old princess that she needed to be real still while I went and got what she wanted. I told her, "Don’t move". She didn't listen very well.

At that point I got up and started around the bar, but as soon as I got to the other side, Christi kicked her feet and fell off of her stool. These were very high stools. Christi disappeared and all I could hear was her screaming. I got around to her and I was in a state of shock. Christi had a very light complexion and have the blondest hair that you had ever seen. Now that blond hair was mixed with a lot of really red blood.

I reached down and grabbed her and started hollering for Mom. Christi had a big gash in her forehead. She had hit her head on the edge of the bar going down. Mom got me a washrag to put on Christi’s head to try and stop the bleeding. She decided we needed to get Christi to a doctor because she probably needed stitches.

I thought to myself, “Oh great, the first time I keep Christi she winds up needing stitches”. Mom called Dr. Dryden. More about Dr. Bud Dryden later but I just tell you, if you think I was scared of telling Carla that Christi needed stitches, I was really scared of Dr. Bud Dryden.

Dr. Dryden told us to meet him at his office down by Brackenridge Hospital. We got in the car and started out. I was holding Christi and had a washrag on her forehead. By this time she had stopped crying. As a matter of fact as I was holding her, she started to go to sleep. NEW PROBLEM. I had always heard that you shouldn’t let someone go to sleep if they have a head injury. Soooo, I started to shake Christi a little bit to wake her up. I went from having a quiet child to one that was screaming again. Silly, silly me. Thank goodness, it only took about 20 minutes to get to the doctor’s office but it felt like a lifetime to me.
We got to the office and Dr. Bud (as we affectionly called him) took her into an examination room. He said, "She needs a few stitches". Christi was screaming. I had kept her awake and here was some guy she didn’t know messing around with her bleeding head. Christi didn’t want any part of this.

Dr. Bud said, “Janette, this kid isn’t going to like me so I need you to hold her arms over her head to keep her from moving her head. Mike, you keep her legs down, I don’t want her kicking me”. I always obeyed Dr. Bud. Anyway I had the easy job. I just held her legs down and I didn’t have to watch while Dr. Bud stitched her up. I was getting sick at my stomach.

It was finally over and I was still feeling sick. We got back to Mom’s house and Christi played like nothing had happened. She had these nasty looking stitches in her forehead. I finally left and went back to Carla’s house to wait for her to come home. Boy, was I nervous. Chrisit was playing and playing and I was sweating and sweating.

Carla and her mom finally got back home and I told her the whole story. She was ok with it because she could she that her baby was ok. Carla was proud of her dress and I know she showed it to me, but I just don’t remember anything about that day other than Christi’s stitches.

Coming Tomorrow; Our engagement, Part IV, 2 Funerals