The Big Boo Boo

Warning: this post has up-close pictures of a very yucky boo boo. If you are squeamish you might want to skip this one.

Memorial weekend seemed like an ideal time to make a road trip to south Texas to visit family. Jimmy took Friday off so we could enjoy the long weekend. Little did we know our trip would be remarkably short. Before we left we turned Olivia's car seat around (she would turn 2 in less than 2 months) with the misguided notion that the novelty of being turned around and able to see would result in a scream free trip. We are hilarious.

We arrived at our first destination of the weekend: Lolo's house. As per usual the kids played and played and played. Olivia developed a fondness for Lucky's dog bed (typical cat behavior) and spent quite a bit of time there.

Sometime around 6:30 pm both kids were running up and down the hall when we heard a crash and Olivia start to cry. I mean really cry. I ran over and the scene of the accident was Momo's walker tipped over in the middle of the hall door frame with Olivia somewhere in the middle. I immediately see blood on the floor and pick her up to see where on her face she's cut (thinking she bit her tongue or lip when she fell). I can't see anything and sit on the couch with her in my lap to try to calm her down. And that's when I saw her formerly white sock. Drenched in blood. My baby's blood. I didn't want to have to take the sock off but we had to see what was under there. Fortunately I have no pictures of the initial carnage. Also fortunately Lolo had some sterile wash so we could get some idea of what we were dealing with. We figured out that she had somehow busted open her big toe on her right foot (about an inch long starting at the top in the middle). It was definitely stitches-worthy so Jimmy and I got her strapped into her car seat - still crying - and rushed over to an emergency care facility in Portland (about 15-20 minutes away). I sat in the back seat with Olivia trying to calm her down, my own black and white shorts stained beyond repair (or so I thought). I was so thankful that we had turned her seat around and she didn't have to have her foot hitting up against the back of the seat. She was so exhausted that she started falling asleep despite the pain she must have been in. We hadn't given her any pain medication before we left because we weren't sure what the hospital was going to want to give her. To their credit they got us back to a room pretty quickly and the sweet nurses were really really good with Olivia. They gave her stickers, let her play in soapy water (used to bathe the wound, numb and sterilize it) and gave her an ice cream sandwich to destroy eat. We assumed the whole time that they would stitch her toe closed, but after the doctor came and looked at it for 10 seconds the nurse came back and said it wasn't eligible to be stitched. We were skeptical but accepted what the doctor said (sort of). So they tried to dry off the blood still seeping out and used steri-strips (I call them butterfly stitches) to keep it closed and showed us how to wrap her tiny toe in gauze.  They pretended the steri-strips would stay on for several days, and gave us instructions accordingly. We put her in her footy pajamas (with the right foot cut open) and she fell asleep with minimal fuss. I got almost no sleep that night as I lay in bed listening to every tiny sound she made in her blow up toddler mattress in our room (the very first time to ever sleep in such a contraption). I just knew she was going to wake up, stand up like she usually does in her crib, and fall out hurting her toe in the process.

The next morning when I noticed the bandage was yucky looking and gently pulled it off to redress the wound, everything came with it. After some agonizing we decided to head home so we could have her seen by a pediatric doctor (who would know what they were doing).  If you can't tell already I was not impressed by the doctor at the ER. So we went home late Saturday afternoon (after a trip to Walmart to stock up on wound care essentials and to find some sandals she could wear that wouldn't touch her big toe) and I got her a Sunday morning appointment to see an after-hours pediatrician recommended by our own regular pediatrician. In the mean time Olivia was walking, running and climbing all over the place and only complaining of her boo boo when she bumped it on something, put too much pressure on it or actually saw it during the many times per day redressing or her shower. She couldn't take a bath until it closed up and after the initial novelty of taking a bath in the "rain" wore off she was not a fan. The pediatrician told us it should have been stitched (duh) but that it was too late. Evidently wounds have to be stitched within 8 to 12 hours of injury. I was near tears in her office. She gave me better instructions and reassured me that I was doing all the right things and, yes, the yellow puss coming from the wound was okay. 

Saturday night (about 24 hrs after the initial injury)

Another look on Saturday

Sunday morning at the pediatric urgent care office. 

I ended up taking her to our own pediatrician a few days later because the cut didn't seem like it was making any progress healing. She gave me some more realistic expectations on the expected progress that helped calm my frazzled nerves (a little). I spent an entire super stressful week watching her every move and just waiting for her to re-injure herself. I was so relieved when it started to scab over and make some decent progress healing!

Day 4 (Tuesday). Do you blame me for going back to the doctor??

How was Nathan this whole time you may ask? When the accident happened he was very upset because Olivia was obviously hurting and upset and he could probably tell Mommy and Daddy were freaking out a little (although under the circumstances I think we were awesome). He didn't want to stay with Lolo while we left but eventually accepted and fell asleep on the couch watching a movie. Once we were home again it was business as usual. The extra attention sister was receiving, especially the nightly foot bath and wound care, caused a little jealousy. He eventually started wanting his own foot bath and antibacterial medicine and bandaid like sister got. And he wanted to help me squirt the sterile water on sister's toe and help with the medicine. Such a big helper.

No real shock that the first child to have a super bloody injury requiring stitches (even if she didn't get them) was my little princess. The healing process was 95% done within 2 weeks. A horrible looooong two weeks for mommy. The first week I stayed home with her but the second week she was able to go to school in a normal shoe. We are indeed fearfully and wonderfully made. She eventually lost about half of her big toenail (almost 3 months later), but it seems to be growing in. I really couldn't believe she didn't lose the whole nail. Lucky girl.

Day 5 - She was clearly very bothered.

As to the fate of my white shorts...well, Lolo somehow worked some voodoo laundry magic and got them spotlessly clean. Too bad I haven't worn them since.