Naptime Blog

The first Friday of every month is always a half-day at my daughter’s school.  Getting out to pick her up with the babies is getting easier now that the warmer weather has started to creep in.  I usually walk to the bus stop with the boys in the double stroller and the dog on his leash.  But it was raining this past first Friday, so I had to load the boys in the truck and drive to the bus stop.

When Juliana got off the bus she was famished as she doesn’t get lunch at school on half days.  Had I walked, we would have gotten sandwiches in the deli where the bus stops, but since I was in the truck I was dreading unloading and reloading the boys to their stroller just to run in and get quick sandwiches.  So I suggested we drive to my mom’s job and have lunch with her (it was approaching her lunch hour and the boss never minds if my kids visit during lunchtime).  And that is exactly what we did.

We had a nice lunch and the boys even ate.  They had fun and got to play a little bit, too!  Then it was back home.  We piled the kids back in the car and off we went.  The boys hadn’t had their naps yet, so I wasn’t surprised when they both fell asleep in the truck.

When I pulled into the driveway, Juliana had to go to the bathroom, but the babies were still sleeping.  So I unlocked the door and told her to go to the basement bathroom and then come right out.  I also asked her to bring out the dog so we could walk him.  Sure enough, five minutes later, she came out with the dog.

Juliana was sitting not five feet from me on the bench with the dog and I had my driver’s window open talking to her.  I do not know why she came over to the car door and opened it.  The dog was trying to jump in the truck so she pulled him out and closed the door.  Unfortunately, she closed the door right on her finger.  By the look on her face I knew it wasn’t good, as a matter of fact, her finger was still stuck in the door and I opened it as fast as I could.  She was bleeding, screaming and crying, and I knew she was in pain.  What was I going to do about the babies in the back seat, her bleeding finger and trying to calm her down all at the same time?

I grabbed some napkins I had in the console and wrapped her whole hand up.  I asked her if it would be alright if she could follow me downstairs as I carried the boys down.  I am five months pregnant, so I do not make it a habit to carry both boys together (they are each 20 pounds), especially down the stairs, but I had to tend to Juliana ASAP.  I managed to get them all down, pretty much threw the boys into their corral, and was terrified to see what I was going to find under the napkins of my still screaming little girl.  Yes, I was NOT thinking when I blurted out the thought in my head (a bit of Mommy-advice:  always censor your thoughts before they become actual words in front of your child!!!) and only made my daughter cry harder – “I need to make sure it didn’t fall off!” and Juliana wailed “My finger is going to fall off?”  Smart one, Mommy!

I managed to get my screaming child into the kitchen and took the napkin off (very carefully).  Her poor finger was a mess, but the nail was on and her finger seemed intact (thankfully!).  She was developing a black and blue on the opposite side of the nail and blood seemed to be pooling under the nail and at the cuticle line.  I rinsed it off and managed to put some ice on it, then I called both my mother (who was 5 minutes away) and my husband (who was a half hour away).  When they both heard the screaming child in the background, both rushed home.

And my little boys were still in the corral in their jackets, and one of them cried anytime he heard his sister’s screams get louder.  When my mother arrived I was able to take off their jackets, and noticed I had gotten blood on Anthony’s clothes!  But they were fine; it was their sister I was worried about.  I sat with her for what felt like hours, and considered whether or not I should take her to the emergency room.  By the time dinner time came, she had stopped screaming and crying, and was even playing on the floor with her brothers.  So my husband and I decided to monitor her.

The next morning she went with her biological father overnight.  I gave him all the cleaners and bandages and told him to let me know if it swelled or bled again.  But when she came home on Sunday night, I could tell in her face she was still in pain, and when I went to change the bandages, I noticed her finger was still bleeding!  The next morning I rushed her to the pediatrician, who after looking at her finger, asked my daughter to sit outside while she spoke to me.  The pediatrician suggested I take her to the ER where they would probably remove the nail due to the pool of blood under the nail.  GREAT!  “My poor baby has to go through more pain!” I thought.  And how was I going to tell her this?  I didn’t.  But I brought my boys home to my mother so my cousin and I could take Juliana to the ER.  I told her they would see what they need to do and decided that I wouldn’t alarm her until I knew exactly what was going to happen.

I was shaking the whole ride.  Surprisingly, we were taken right in to one of the rooms, and the resident came in to take a look.  Then the pediatrician came in, and I was relieved to learn they were not going to remove the nail, however, they needed to relieve the blood under it.  They ordered a small laser (the size of a pen) from the OR and put three small holes in the nail, where it immediately relieved the bleeding and the pressure which was still causing the pain.  The X-ray revealed a small fracture, so her finger was bandaged and splinted and off we went.

Thankfully, two weeks later, she is almost fully recovered, although still scarred, and she has pain only if she bangs her finger.  She was able to play softball for the first time yesterday, and she did very well, with little discomfort after.  Although the event shaved a few years off my life and gave me some gray hairs, it could have been much worse, so our first ER visit and bone fracture was not too bad. 

Can we keep our kids in bubbles until they are 18?

Jennifer
Mom to Juliana (7), Louis (9m) and Anthony (9m)
Expecting #4 in September!
www.nevaland.com