The blood was Amelia’s, the tears were mine (and Amelia’s). She is totally fine, but the first (and second) instance of gushing blood from your little baby is always memorable, even if the cause is a teeny tiny two times over split lip. I’m a little surprised it took Miss Amelia ten months to scare me like this, but I’m not at all surprised that my reaction (after cleaning her up and cuddling) was to fish out the first aid book I got from the Red Cross a few years ago and take notes on what to do in emergencies. My plan is to print up these notes and laminate them. So yes, a split lip made me brush up on CPR. Not an over-reaction at all.
How did she get her twice over split? The first was a result of crawling around her high chair after lunch. I was at the sink washing up remnants of banana and lasagna. She and Kaiya were trying to beat each other’s record for who can eat the most food off the floor. I heard a scream, which is pretty normal around here, so I picked up Amelia, ready to soothe her spirits. When the screaming didn’t stop, I looked down and saw blood streaming from her mouth and already smeared on both her onesie and my shirt. Yikes!
In that moment, I realized I’m so not calm under pressure. I didn’t scream other than a quiet “Oh no” and I quickly grabbed a clean rag to try and somehow put pressure on the unknown blood source, but in my mind I was thinking “This is bad! She’s going to die!”
She didn’t. After a couple of minutes of sucking on a cool rag, the blood stopped and Amelia wanted down to play (in her bloody onesie no less). I was dismayed by the blood and the screaming, but I was more dismayed by my internal over-reaction. I jumped from bloody mouth to death in ten seconds. That can’t be good.
At the end of the day, Dave home and listening to the horror of the afternoon, Amelia playing at the play kitchen in between Dave and I, I beseeched Dave to buy me some chocolate after Amelia went to bed. When I had finally calmed down from the split lip, I had had no chocolate to comfort me. Hence the tears. Dave agreed and smiled at our lovely babe and then this lovely babe tripped over Kaiya’s dog bed (next to the play kitchen), falling on her face, and wouldn’t you know it, splitting that lip all over again. More tears. More gushing blood. No chocolate.
We cleaned her up, applied a cool teether, and put her to bed with a slightly swollen but not awful looking lip. Dave went to the store and came back with three different chocolate varieties. I learned a lot about myself that day. I learned I’m an over-reacting mother, despite past assumptions that I’d be a cool cucumber, and I learned the extent of my chocolate dependence. And Amelia learned…? Not much. The next day she was back to crawling around the high chair and on Kaiya’s bed.
Image: luigi diamanti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
1. Glad Amelia’s OK!
2. I’m no doctor, but it seems to me that mouth injuries bleed a lot (saliva doesn’t help), and then heal FAST.
3. I like this resource and you might too: John Hopkins First Aid for Babies and Children Fast (http://www.amazon.com/First-Aid-Babies-Children-Fast/dp/0756619319#_). My favorite thing about it is that there is a quick page number find reference on the back of the book.
4. Having a dark washcloth laying around for such sopping-up emergencies can’t hurt (since the sight of so much blood can be tough for mama and baby alike).
5. I guess I’m in a list mood.
6. You’re a good mama! And you’re learning so much about yourself. Love it.
Thanks Kate! I’ll check out the John Hopkins site and good point about the dark wash cloth. I used a white one, so the bright red blood made me panic.