-
About Table for Five:
First there was me and my husband, and then there were two wonderful sons. And then there was a new baby coming! One day, we walked into a restaurant, and the waitress asked how many? I said, table for four, please. Then I turned to my husband and said, when the baby comes, we'll need to ask for a table for five. And the rest, as they say, is history. I hope you enjoy my posts, reviews, photos, and giveaways!
Subscribe in a reader
Get my posts delivered right to your email inbox!:Delivered by FeedBurner
Today I learned just how absolutely horrible I am in a crisis situation. While I was going to the bathroom, Kaitlyn crawled up to the door of the boys’ bedroom and tried to get into their room. This is not usually a problem, but today they had a friend over playing and they didn’t want their sister around, so when they saw her coming, someone slammed the door shut.
On her middle finger of her left hand.
I heard her screaming, so I finished up in the bathroom while yelling for Ryan to open the door and pick up his sister for me. And that’s when all hell broke loose. My memory is a little fuzzy, due to extreme sleep deprivation and probably shock, but I think I was the one who saw that her finger was bleeding, then looked a little closer and saw that the tip of her finger was…sorry for this…hanging off.
I completely lost my shit. I began to scream, actually scream, and not like a horror movie vixen either. It was a deep, diaphragmatic, guttural scream, interspersed with words like “her finger! you cut off her finger!” I grabbed a washcloth out of the linen closet and wrapped it around her hand, and then began to pace frantically back and forth across the living room. The friend who was over playing ran past me yelling “I’ll go home now!”, Nathan ran into the bedroom and started to cry, and Ryan yelled “9-1-1! We need to call 9-1-1!”
I guess one of the benefits of living in a small Township is that the Township Fire Department doesn’t have that far to travel, and they were at my house in five minutes. We followed the ambulance to the hospital, and angels or karma or something must have been riding with us, because we hit every green light all the way there. Even though it costs a lot more to take an ambulance, people arriving that way get taken directly to a room instead of having to wait. The EMTs stayed with Kaitlyn until I got there, gave her a small stuffed bunny and even put the TV on Spongebob for her. My husband must have driven the thirty miles from work in record time, because he was there almost right after me.
She had X-Rays, to make sure there were no fractures, and cried while being held down on the table. She cried on my lap, in Chris’ lap, and while the nurse re-wrapped her hand. She cried for two hours. And then, just as she fell asleep in Chris’ lap with him holding her bottle and me singing to her, they came in to stitch her finger. I left to go to the waiting room and check on the boys, and when I got back, she was wrapped up papoose-style in this heavy wrap, with a nurse holding her left arm and hand still and Chris trying his best to keep her calm. I put my hand on Kaitlyn’s right hand where it was sticking out a little through the wrap, and the nurse looked up at me and said “we don’t need any distractions”.
Oh, HELL NO. Don’t you tell me that I am a distraction to my baby, betch. I kept my comments to myself, and went back to patting Kaitlyn through the wrapping. Chris was leaning over the bed looking directly into her eyes, and the eye contact seemed to help her stay calm, although every time he looked away to see what the Doctor was doing, she would wail. Without any conscious thought, I started to sing to her. I sang bits of every song on the “We Are The Laurie Berkner Band” DVD, and as soon as I sang loudly enough for her to hear me, she stopped crying. The Doctor said, “We should have you sing to all the kids in the E.R.”
Take THAT, you mean nurse.
It took three stitches to reattach the tip of her finger. There were no fractures. By the time the discharge papers were printed out, we had been there three hours with Kaitlyn crying for almost all of that time. A discharge nurse gave Kaitlyn a soft fleece blanket printed with “SPARROW Emergency & Level 1 Trauma Center”. A nice gesture, and much appreciated since Ryan had handed Kaitlyn to the EMT without putting her coat on her, so we were going out in 35 degree weather with just blankets to wrap her in.
Oh yeah, and after watching the lady in the cubicle across from ours wave at her for a few minutes, Kaitlyn waved, for the first time ever. “Mommy, when did I learn to wave?” “At the E.R. honey, when your finger almost got cut off.” Special.
So now we have a prescription for Cephalexin, an extremely FOUL tasting antibiotic, and steri-strips and fingertip bandages, directions to call our pediatrician tomorrow and get the stitches taken out next week, and a new bottle of Infant Tylenol that probably cost my insurance company ten dollars. And the feeling that we were very lucky, that Kaitlyn could have lost her fingertip completely, and the agreement that there is no more slamming doors.
The Doctor asked the boys which one of them slammed the door. I quickly replied that it didn’t matter, and it doesn’t. There is no need for blame here. It was an accident, and she will be okay. Even if the stitches don’t work and she loses a little bit of her fingertip, there is no reason to make either of the boys feel badly about it. Plus, their behavior during the whole ordeal was exemplary. Ryan called 9-1-1 and gave all our information to the operator, and relayed her instructions on squeezing Kaitlyn’s finger and keeping it elevated above her head. Nathan called Chris and packed the diaper bag. At the E.R., they sat in the waiting room for three hours, mostly by themselves, reading books and eating the free graham crackers without so much as a whisper of complaint. They made me so proud.
NOW, before you view this photo, please get a tissue. It is heartbreaking. On her shirt you can see a sticker that reads “I got stitched at The Sparrow E.R.”, and you’ll see her poor bandaged finger. My poor peanut, who was such a good girl and so brave during the most painful, frightening thing that has ever happened to her.
The photo was taken when we first got home, when we discovered that part of the reason she had been crying so much is that she was STARVING. She ate a YoBaby yogurt and drank half a bottle before falling asleep. The next few days we will have to be constantly vigilant, keep her away from doors and make sure she doesn’t bump her hand. She will have to take the foul antibiotic which will hopefully not constipate her too badly. And she’ll get even more hugs and kisses from me.
Comments
Oh my goodness, Elizabeth, that is SO scary. I am sure I would have freaked out too. Joe tends to be the calmer one about hospital visits, though I have been able to get through them OK (thankfully, only one emergency room visit so far, knock on wood).
I am glad Kaitlyn is OK and hopefully the stitches and bandages will have her healing in no time. Kudos to Ryan for calling 911.
OMG! That is aweful! Having just been in and out of the ER myself, I know what and ordeal that can be. I hope she is all calmed down now.
My oldest, had her index finger almost cut off in the hinge part of a door when she was about 2 1/2. It was at day care and they called me and told me that they were taking her to the ER. I drove so fast that I got there before they did. It was the same sort of deal, it was the tip of her finger almost to the fingernail, but no bone. It is all fine now. 10 years later you can see a little bit of a scar if you look close, but all that trauma has been long forgotten.
Your boys deserve a treat for their maturity 
Now the question is, “have you recovered?”
You poor things!
Good job on the not blaming anyone. They didn’t mean it and they will sure remember it.
Take care of that baby!
I agree with Meno. That was an inspired bit of parenting right there and you should be proud.
Poor baby, though! Good luck to you all getting through the recovery period. Opie scraped a chunk of skin off his finger in one of Jo’s new Christmas toys and it’s very very hard to keep the scrape clean and covered–so I feel for you!
You lost your shit…well, yeah, anyone would have. Anyone.
I am glad your baby got all fixed up and that you are back at home.
Hugs to all.
((HUGS))) to you and Kaitlyn.
I pretty much lose it in a crisis, though I do pull it togther after the initial freak out. I think that is normal. Right?
Oh wow. How frightening. It sounds like the boys did a great job of keeping their heads during what must have been a frightening experience for them, too. I’m so glad to hear Kaitlyn is ok. I’m pretty sure I will react in much the same way you did when my baby hurts herself badly the first time. Hopefully I won’t find out for a while.
The first time Julia ever really hurt herself, meaning there was a lot of blood, I totally lost it too. Totally. In situations like that, when your child is hurt and you see blood and the tops of fingers that have been cut off, it’s perfectly acceptable to lose your shit.
I would have had a hard time not bitch-slapping that nurse. Kudos to you for keeping your cool. And kudos to you for singing to Kaitlyn and getting her to calm down. When Oliver locked himself in the van the only thing that kept him calm while we waited for a set of keys to arrive was me singing to him. I sang everything and anything I could think of. YAY for song!
I’m usually a lurker, but I had to come out of hiding tell you how glad I was to hear that your little girl and your whole family is ok!
OH MY GOD I would still be off the chain. Sounds to me like you handled it very well all stress considered.
That poor sweet baby.
One of my twins had to have an MRI once and I didn’t want him sedated, I found myself not only singing every Laurie Berkner song I knew, I wound up going through the STING catalog……but hey, it worked!
You are exactly right. If you had driven her to the ER, no telling how long you would have sat in the waiting room. “Oh, an ambulance brought you? Come right in.”
I’m glad she’s going to be OK. That was a scary situation, but it sounds like everyone (with the exception of the “mean nurse”) handled it well.
I am a survivor of almost that exact same accident. My brother also slammed a door on my finger and we went flying to the ER for it. I remember VERY little of the whole episode and my finger today is completely normal. I can’t even really tell which of my pinkies it was without a lot of searching for the scar.
Long winded way of saying that you handled it perfectly and Kaitlyn is going to remember the cool big white bandage on her hand if she remembers anything at all.
Oh, how heartbreaking! I am glad it all got stitched back together, but oh… what a trying experience.
Oh that is just so scary. When Boy 1 was 18 months old, he fell at the mall and split open his forehead. His first ambulance ride, his first (10) stitches. I was a bigger mess than he was, he was just fine afterwards because he got to bring home a teddy bear. I was ready to never let him walk on his own two feet again.
Hope you both feel better soon.
Oh geez. I’m glad you guys are doing better. How scary though.
Oh! Poor, sweet baby! I remember when Dawson got the cut on his face at the grocery store from the automatic doors, I bellared and yelled…..I probably sounded like a dying cow, but my baby was hurt!
I’m so glad she’s going to be all right.
-hugs to you- We’re like war buddies now….toddler injuries are the worst!
RYC: Preventing pregnancy. Well, and learning more about my body.
By the time we’d been married 4 years we’d had three pregnancies (resulting in two children). So, um, we’re *slightly* fertile. And hormonal BC does very bad things to me (not to mention I nurse for years), and I’m just not ready for dh to have the big V yet. Plus I’m morbid - if one kiddo gets run over in the street in front of our house, I’ll want to have another one eventually so the other can have company/support/whatever. Anyway…
I’m so glad it all turned out okay. I can’t comment much more than that. I am VERY squeamish!!!
Happy New Year!
Awww, poor baby!! I hope she heals quickly and that no more doors will be slammed!
Oh Elizabeth! The poor baby.
Our 8 year old did the same thing when she was three. She cut the tip of her middle finger off after catching it in the hinge of our patio door. I lost my shit. It was not pretty, but I got done what needed to be done. Made it through the stitches and setting (she did break her finger too, crap) and then I drank and had a cigarette that night (and I don’t smoke!).
Okay, I think my heart stopped a little bit while I was reading that. So glad you got her to the ER and everything was (sort of) okay!
Poor baby! I don’t know how you held it together, but I’m amazed you did. In situations like that I just don’t know how I would react.
I hope she’s feeling much better today. Big hugs to Kaitlyn!
What a nightmare! I’m so glad it turned out okay. I know it must be so hard not to think about what could have happened.
Glad to hear the rest of your Christmas and New Year were uneventful.
Happy 2007 and good luck with those goals!
Poor baby. Sometimes I wish I could wrap my kids in bubble wrap. I’m glad she’s going to be okay.
Comments protected by Lucia's Linky Love.