Tuesday, December 11, 2007
ER Visit #1
D: This weekend has been a rough one. Saturday evening I was in the kitchen cooking, when I heard F come crawling up to me as I was preparing dinner. Just as I turned to pick him up I saw his little curious hand reach towards the oven door and lay it flat-palmed on the 400-degree surface. (That which I had no idea was turned on, nor did I know that it could even get that hot to the touch. Stupid commercial oven...what were we thinking?) F started screaming, but didn't flinch or take his hand away from the hot surface. I swooped down and grabbed him, of course as quickly as I could...but not quick enough. His little paw was entirely covered in 2nd degree burns and blisters.
I am ashamed to admit that at this point my cool-cucumber, parent-of-twins facade fell off and I became a blithering idiot...What do we do?? Ice? Running water? Where is our first aid box? What's in our first aid box...Icy Hot...that's burn cream right?? No?? Ahhh, where's the burn cream?? He needs to go to the E.R...who's going to go? Who's going to stay with O? Ohhh, F, I'm SO SORRY! On the other hand, I am proud of how quickly W reacted and how he handled the the situation amidst my chaos. He quickly took him to the ER while I sat and cried with O...who, by the way did not seem to have any inkling of what was going on around him. This was his dinnertime, and he was more concerned about where his meal was.
Upon return from his trip to the ER, F arrived a new baby, with super hero powers...the Mitt. This 'mitt' is gauze wrapped around his little hand a bazillion times to form a protective barrier around his wounds and looks like a boxing glove. He was exhausted from the evening’s events and the Tylenol with codeine that they gave him in the ER, but it looked like he was in relative good spirits, and was no longer in immediate pain.
The evening’s events seemed harder on me than my little boy. I never could have imagined how heartbreaking it would be to see my child in pain. I cried just as hard as he did, and I even felt his pain (literally...I touched the oven as long as I could so I could tell how hot it actually was).
The healing process is going to be slow for F, all along with his new trusty Mitt shielding him from any infection or further injury. The last few days he really hasn't seemed to be fazed by the Mitt and has found new impressive ways to use only his right hand for tasks that would usually require two. Also, you would think that it would be hard for a 4 wheeler (crawler), to loose one of their 'wheels'. But it really hasn't slowed him down at all. He is still crawling around faster than ever. I'm so glad that he does not seem to be in pain at the moment.
I had him checked out again the next day in the ER, and they were pleased to see him in better spirits. As I sat there, waiting with F, I thought to myself, "how many more times will I be in the ER with either of my sons?" Judging by their adventurous nature, I started thinking that I had better be real nice to these people. Maybe I should've brought them cookies.
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Oh poor little guy! Sounds pretty resiliant though...but the agony we go through as Mom's when they get hurt!!!
I never posted on my blog about the time Faith fell from the couch, onto our hardwood floors head first...it was such a horrible experience and I sobbed for two days! Her little cries cut me to the core...
Jonathan got his first shiner on Sunday, and Jay felt sooo badly as it happened on his "watch." We wondered what it was going to be like when one of them breaks a bone or something!
Seriously stinks to have a hurt child...I hope Finn heals quickly, but it sounds like he is going to be efficient with only one hand, so it shouldn't slow him down much!
Oh, Dana! I'm so sorry to hear about little Fin. It sounds like he's on the mend, though! I'll be thinking about you guys.
As a fellow mama of 10 1/2 month old id. twin boys, I feel like I can give it to ya straight! MAKE THEM COOKIES! If the next few years are anything like the past 11months, I think I might be doing a lot of baking!
We had one major (and three minor ones since their birth) incident about a month ago that I am honestly too embarrassed to write about (let alone tell my in-laws!), but thankfully Brook's quick dad/emt work allowed me to disconnect with the 9-1-1 operator before too long. It was 2 minutes of utter hell. My next phone call was going to be to Child Protective Services to turn myself in.
Of course, the Reid Rager was his normal spunky self within a 5 minute time-frame of the hellish incident.
Meanwhile, Brook and I were up all night, checking on our boys every 3minutes and thinking about what COULD have happened. I spent about a week guilt-ridden, feeling as if I was the worst mom in the entire universe--but finally wised-up and realized that, although I can make the house as safe as possible for them, I can't wrap them in bubble wrap and protect them 100% of the time. As much as I might like to.
I do, however, wish there was a way to suck the pain right out of them and disperse it within me. Seeing your child in pain tops my list of things I wouldn't wish on anyone.
In any case, I hope that Finn makes a quick recovery and, of course, you guys are taking plenty of photos with him and The Mitt.
Poor Little F!
I just came upon your blog and when I read this post it brought back memories. I have 4 year old twin boys and we definitely had our fair share of ER visits. More than I like to admit. But to make you feel better: There was a baby drop when they first came home (husband trying to juggle 2 at the same time) = ER TRIP. There was finger getting smashed by a big rock from brother = ER trip. There was Major Allergic reaction to peanuts = ER trip. There were asthma attacks b/c I didn't fully understand the warning signs = ER trip and hospital stays. What an education I learned about Reactive Airway Disease. There was fingers getting caught in a closed door w/o the person realizing and me having to almost barge the door down = ER trip. There were more but those were sickness related. And it all happend in a span of a few months. Unbelievable. Just know it happens to the best of us. I consider myself a good TwinMom and it still happened to me...and I discovered it happens to the best of us. Take it in stride and try to think of it as "making memories". You'll be telling your grandkids this story.
Happy Blogging.