Second: There is no guilt like mommy guilt – period.
Third: This was entirely a life lesson for me.
Here's what happened:
It was Saturday night and M. had already changed Seth. I had just taken Nate into the nursery to get him ready for bed before their nighttime feeding when I noticed a hair (very likely one of mine) loosely wrapped around one of his toes. I reached down quickly to remove it and in an instant all I was holding was a piece of the hair that snapped off – the rest was suddenly coiled around Nate's toe so tightly that it started swelling immediately. In less than two seconds that coil of hair had virtually disappeared between the puffiness on either side.
And then it started to bleed. : (
My poor baby! He was crying so hard, and I get a big, fat fail for what happened next because I was not a calm, cool mommy at all. I was a scared, shaky, quivering mess!
I scooped up Nate and yelled for M. – who fortunately was a pretty collected daddy – and he managed to fish out the hair that was cutting off the circulation to Nate's wee toe. I thought only the sight of my own blood freaked me out that badly, but apparently the sight of my baby's blood does the same thing. I'm really going to need to grow a much thicker skin before my babies start running around and the scrapes and bruises start or I'm never going to make it.
Here are some pics I took the next day. You can still see how deeply that piece of hair cut in. : (
Of course, Nate was fine almost right away and hasn't made any complaints since. I, on the other hand, am continuing to slather his wee toe in Polysporin and thinking about how I spent too long baking those ten perfect toes to lose one. I swear I thought it was going to pop right off.
Ugh. Mommy guilt is the worst.
- L.
Oooooh, poor Nate and poor you - lots of lessons to be learned in Mommyhood, that's for sure. You will need lots of elastic for your nerves (and obviously in your hair) so you can immediately snap back from a crisis mode to a peaceful one whenever an emergency arises with the boys. You can look forward to endless "guilt" moments in the years ahead! :)
ReplyDeletePoor widdoo baby Nate - I can't believe how nasty his poor little toe looks - unbelievable what a hair can do and obviously your hair is very strong. Now I have two people with foot problems - my grandson and my sister - I don't know who's is more oweee. I'm sure by now Nate has forgiven you.
ReplyDeleteOuch! Poor Nate and poor Mommy :(
ReplyDeleteWhen I read that you pulled the hair to snap it off, I was thinking "yeah - so?" never thinking (like you) in a million years that it could cut off circulation like it did!!! You'd never know hair was so strong.
I'm sure Nate won't remember this at all so you just need to get rid of Mommy guilt which is easier said than done.
Kathy
So glad that you and Nate are recovering.
ReplyDeleteGood that M. was able to help make things right.
Will keep all of you in my prayers.
So glad that you and Nate are okay.
Good that M. was able to make things right.
Keeping all of you in my prayers,