BarefootinBoston

Yesterday I was in the kitchen, prepping some stuff for dinner.  E had just eaten his lunch and was happily standing and crusiing between the cabinets and stove.  He lost his balance, fell on his tush, and then on his head.  I rushed over to him, picked him up and comforted him.

Then I looked at my shirt.  It was covered with blood.  My arm was covered with blood, my neck, my chest.  I started to panic.  I checked E’s mouth, no blood.  I checked E’s head, no blood.  I looked at myself again, there was more blood on me.  Finally, I noticed that it was E’s hand.   Then I noticed how quickly it was coming out.  Then I really started to panic  (I know, I know, not the thing to do).  I called A and asked what to do-he said to bandage him up and take him to the hospital.   Sounded good in theory, but I just couldn’t bandage E up.  He wouldn’t sit still for me to look at his hand, I didn’t want to hurt him even more by trying to wrap him up.   Being the great wife I am, I started to get angry with A and hung up, saying I needed to take care of things…yea.

A few minutes had passed and the bleeding was still pretty heavy.  F@*k this I thought.  I’m calling 911.  So I did.  And actually calmed down.  The funny thing being that E, once I calmed him down for falling and hitting his head, wasn’t upset at all.  If anything,  he was just bothered by my holding his hand wrapped in a paper towel.  A couple of minutes after I called, a police officer showed up.

“What happened?”

“My son cut himself, I’m not sure on what, and a chunk of his finger came off.”

“Do you have it?” the police officer asked.

“Um…no, no, it’s not a piece of his finger, just the skin.”

Ok, now I was feeling pretty badly.  A paramedic and firemen showed up…totaling at least 6 people.  Two of them looked at E’s finger.  They couldn’t figure out where it was cut, but said it wasn’t too bad, and that he wasn’t in dire need of medical attention.  The wrapped it up, suggested I get him a tetanus shot (at that point I had NO idea what he had had for his shot) and seek medical attention if I wanted to (um…YEA!).  Then they all left.

Yea, maybe I over reacted a bit, but I was covered in blood, COVERED.  It looked so much worse than it was.  So, I packed up a few things in E’s diaper bag, grabbed a hoodie to cover my bloody self, loaded the car up, and off we were to the dr.’s.

A met us there, thank goodness, and was surprised at how Emerson was…normal.  We brought him into the doctor, the doctor looked at E’s finger and told us this

He has a superficial cut on the tip of his finger.  The cut that he has on the middle part of his finger isn’t too bad.  Luckily the skin is still there, so it will heal better.  Babies heal very quickly.  Stitches are not needed.  Just make sure change the band aid when it gets nasty looking, and keep it clean.  The only thing we’re looking for is infection.  Keep it covered until Monday.  Call me tomorrow and let me know if it’s still bleeding and how he’s doing.

Ok…phew.  Even though I called 911, over reacting a bit, my baby was going to be ok.  In a way, I’m glad that it happened like it did.  I’ll be better prepared for the future when things are worse…because of course they will be.

And I was feeling like a negligent mother, my perfect baby injured at only 9 months.  But, things happen.  And how he got cut?  The pair of tongs that I had in my hand when I went to comfort him-my guess is he grabbed them and cut himself.  As A puts it, you went over to make him feel better, that’s not a bad thing.

Lesson learned-don’t have anything in hands when comforting baby…

“Spence was a couple of months old when I first cut his fingernails, snipping a tiny fingertip. As blood streamed out of the cut, I screamed ‘Oh my Christ. You’re bleeding. Holy Mary Mother of Fuck, what do I do now?’” Mommies Who Drink, Brett Paesel

Cutting E’s nails is one of the things I dread the most. I anxiously await the time until the next trim. The indicator that I need to cut his nails is usually displayed all over my body, from him gripping my neck when I hold him to clenching the skin on my hand when he’s eating, I get battle wounds when his nails get too long. I put up with this for a couple of days before finally giving in and cutting his nails. For the first two months, A would cut E’s nails while I was nursing him. He was content and still, two very important preparations to cutting E’s nails. A has cut E’s fingers twice, both times drawing blood, both times ending in screaming, both times me wincing and dreading removing the band aid a day later. Now that he’s bottle fed, life is different. I am the one who cuts his nails.

I find I often forget that I need to trim his nails until he unknowingly attacks me with them. When the time is right, I put him on his changing table and try to distract him with some toy that is close by. This proves difficult as I need both hands to trim his nails, one to hold his hand, the other to hold the clippers. E is more interested in the clippers than the toy I gave him, trying to grab them whenever they get within his reach. I hold my breath every time I push the clippers together. Phew, no skin with that one. When I’m lucky, I get through all 10 nails. More times than not it’s a two phase battle with the thumbs being the most difficult. Luckily I have only clipped his skin a couple of times and it’s only been a superficial wound, no blood. I don’t know what I would do should blood starting pouring out of E’s hands, most likely end up on the floor from thinking about the blood, not good for either of us.