Sunday, December 20, 2009

Ethan's first stitches

An earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale hit Taiwan at 9:02 pm on Saturday.
The quake's epicenter was off the eastern coast of Hualien County, which is about 75 miles from where we are staying in Taichung. The Central Weather Bureau said this is the strongest quake to hit Taiwan this year and the quake was caused by the friction between the Eurasian plate and the Philippine sea plate.

Joel and I were working on our computers when the quake hit. Earthquakes are always frightening. We didn't know if it was going to be minor or our last goodbye. Taiwan builds to earthquake code but Joel and I have seen their construction and we had our doubts when our building was shaking! Ethan unfortunately was the one who was hurt. Joel and I were standing in the hall for a moment not knowing if we should get the kids up or not and we heard glass clanking together in Ethan's room. A second later he was screaming. When we walked in he was sitting in a pile of glass.

This is the fixture that fell.

And the glass left after Joel pulled the fixture from Ethan's bed. Joel helped me calm down and put a bandage on Ethan's cut and then we rushed by taxi to the hospital. Joel stayed with Evie who not surprisingly slept through the entire thing.

This is Ethan, finally peaceful after his first sedative.

Ethan woke up as soon as the doctor started suturing him. The nurse tried to hold him down but unfortunately I had to help too. If felt awful holding him down and not being able to calm him down

This is after the second sedative. Ethan was still strong and fighting even in his sleep. I had to sit on him just after I took this...fun.

It's all over. The nurse is cleaning him up and we get to go home.

Ethan also had little nicks and a bloody nose but he looks pretty peaceful now.

Ethan, totally sacked. We got him home but kept him in bed with us for a few hours to monitor his breathing since he had two sedatives.

Ethan was in good spirits this morning but really groggy from the sedative. He was pretty clumsy until early afternoon.

Ethan, sporting his new war wound. Chicks like scars, right?

4 comments:

  1. oh my. I lived in california and went through a few big ones there as well. no one was hurt in our case but yeah earthquakes are really scary. How awful for your son. hope he feels better soon.

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  2. Oh Carrie!! My heart aches for you guys. I can't even imagine how you felt walking into the room and seeing poor Ethan covered in glass. It's nice to see the last picture of him with all smiles but I can't imagine it's easy to deal with a major deal such as that in a foreign country. Praying for your family!!

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  3. Oh, poor baby! :( It makes me so sad to see his little face all beat up. So sorry you guys had to go through that. Hope he heals up quickly and likes sporting little scars! ;)

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  4. How scary to be in another country when an earthquake happens much less to have to take your baby to the hospital because a lamp fell on him! Poor E-man!

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