ER

One week ago today I was sitting in the ER with my 6 month old baby. My first trip to the ER as a mother. Want to hear the not-so-gory and embarrassing details? I was clipping Justin's toenails and decided to trim his fingernails while I was at it. This was my first attempt at his fingernails because I'm a professional nail biter and I usually bite off his fingernails. I'm not sure why I decided to go for it on this particular afternoon. So he was starting to lose patience and I told him I was just going to do one last trim on his thumb, when I notice the bleeding. Ahhhh! I punctured my baby's thumb and made him bleed! I couldn't really see the cut; he was screaming and it was bleeding a lot. I grabbed a tissue and started applying pressure, but everytime I looked at the wound, it would pool up with blood again. After 10 minutes of this I started to get worried and called the nurse line. She told me to use a wet washcloth to apply pressure for 5 whole minutes before looking at the cut. She said every time I took the tissue away, I would reopen the cut, making it bleed. Good to know, huh? It's about this time that I realize that I've damaged his right thumb, the one he sucks himself to sleep with! So I've not only hurt my son, but also taken away his ability to comfort himself. Great job, Jill! Thirty minutes tick by and I hang up with the nurse having decided to have Justin seen today. The bleeding hasn't stopped and she's worried about possible infection and stitches on top of that. Right about now, I start to lose it. Darren isn't picking up his phone and his pediatrician can't see him for an hour. Justin is losing patience as I try to bandage his thumb he wants to suck so he won't bleed all over himself. So I call up a neighbor who graciously comes over to sit with my napping Joseph, and we head for the ER. By the time the nurse sees us, the bleeding has stopped and I'm feeling like an idiot. Two hours later, the doctor takes a look and says, "Let me put a bandaid on it for you." How humiliating! And I just felt so awful for my little baby that I caused pain! But in the end, I am happy to report that Justin is fine (can you believe how fast kids heal?) and I've learned a few things: 1)I'll stick to biting his nails. 2)I'll take humiliation over a serious injury any day! 3)And hey, now I know exactly how to get to the ER for the next time...? Let's not think about that.