Tuesday, August 12, 2008

my first trauma experience


This morning around 9:30 a.m., I was in the bedroom getting ready for the little swimming party we were gonna have at our house... everything was going fine until I heard Naief make some type of sound. I turned around and saw what I thought was paint on his forehead... then he cried out. As I moved over to him, I realized he had fallen and cut his forehead wide open on the corner edge of the wall!!! As I approached him, he started crying and the opening gushed blood.

I terrified me... but it's amazing how fast your instincts or something takes over. I swooped him up in my arms, carried him to the bed and put his pajama top on the opening. phew.... it was bleeding soooo much! I called Hashim and told him to come immediately that Naief had fallen and busted his head open, then hung up.... we're a one car family, which isn't good for times like these. Thank goodness he only works about 6 or 7 mins. away and was able to get here in no time, altho it seemed like a lifetime.

I called my SIL and cancelled the pool party, crying as I told her what had happened. She told me she'd come immediately. Naief started to cry again and as I tried to soothe him, my SIL arrived, looked at him and said, "yellah, let's take him to hospital"...

All the while, Naief is going in between crying and staying completely calm. So calm that it amazes me. He doesn't try to push the washcloth w/ ice from his forehead... he doesn't do nothing but stay still.

We see Hashim on our way. He goes home to get insurance information and we go to the hospital. I take him to the emergency room where they tell me that he'll have to have stiches because it's so deep. You wouldn't think that a wall could cause a gash so deep.... or at least I never thought about it.

Hashim arrives shortly after, signs in and gets his file and then we wait on the dr. It's probably 10 mins, if that, and the dr. comes and my SIL is told to leave the room, Hashim leaves the room and I stay there to talk to him. There were 3 other nurses and the dr. My SIL comes back and tells me to go that she'll stay there w/ him, so I go out, only to pace the floor as I hear Naief screaming and calling, "momma".

It was sooo terrible. I wanted to run to him, lift him up in my arms and take him away from there, but I knew I couldn't. They inject him w/ pain med on the site, after rolling him up in a sheet to keep his arms and legs from moving, then cover his face w/ this cloth and then start the procedure. He starts screaming bloody murder.... first "momma" and then "bubba"... over and over again. It's terrible to hear your child scream from pain and fear, let me tell ya. I start to cry and Hashim goes in to comfort him or try the best he could. Poor little thing... my heart breaks for him.

Finally, the dr. finishes. He's crying so much, is blood red and sweating sooo much. He wants me, but all I can do is stand there and tell him, "it's ok, momma's here". They wrap his head up in a bandage and then it's ok for me to take him in my arms.

We have to wait just a little bit while the dr. finishes up the paperwork, then we're allowed to leave.

He's okay, but will be dealing w/ pain today.

It's so scary when you see how fast something can happen. I'm so thankful he's okay. He's been so good through this and only cried a little this afternoon and touched his head so I gave him pain meds. He's sleeping now... he was so exhausted.

You know... it truly touched my heart at how fast my SIL responded to my need for help. It's hard not having your family when things like this happen. I'm so thankful she lives across the street and that she cares enough about us to come so quickly. It makes me feel so loved. :'(

19 comments:

bint battuta said...

What a shock it must have been! As the worst is over, I hope you don't me saying that Naief looks soooooo cute with that bandage on his head ;-)

Anonymous said...

:((((

So sorry about your boy... insha'allah he'll be ok.

Christopher said...

Awwww...poor lil guy! I'm glad he's ok and throughout it all, so are you...poor little man!! He looks like a tough cookie though...glad it wasn't so serious!

Gardens of Sand said...

Oh honey, that must've been so terrifying! Inshallah the wound will heal soo and he will forget the pain.

I second BB, he looks so cute!

L_Oman said...

Oh, bless...I'm so glad he's ok now, but ugh - the whole ordeal was probably so hard on all of you.

This is horrible to say - but don't lose that picture! I've got one of myself wrapped up the same way and as weird as it may seem...I love that picture!

Poor little boo.

Puppy said...

I read this post, and i am amazed how u reacted so quick and the way Naief behaved, poor little boy. I would have fainted right there. I cant look at blood especially when little kids are in pain and even worse bleeding.

I wonder what will happen if that kind of situation will happen to me, we would probably both end up lying on the floor:((

He looks so sweet, just want to hug him!

Um Naief, you be ready, boys tend to get in all kind of trauma. Let the God guard him from any other, inshallah.

Mahmood Al-Yousif said...

Khatah el soo. That means I'm thankful that he got over it, and I'm sure he will and so will you too.

You'll look back at this experience in a few years time and laugh about it. I guarantee it!

Um Naief said...

thanks everyone :) he's doing a lot better. took the bandage off today, changed the band aid and all looked fine. the cut is larger than i thought and he only got 2 stiches, instead of 3, which i'm happy about. he had a little pain today, but slept well last night, only waking up at 11 w/ a little pain.

The Queen said...

Poor little man cub! Must have scared the life out of you! My son did the same thing when he was about the same age. Ran right into the door jam. He didn't get a cut but he had a bump that came out about 2 inches or so if memory serves me. I'd never seen such a thing before. When my daugter was not quite a year old yet she had to get seven stitches on her finger after a freak accident putting her finger in a VCR and then pulling it out suddenly when she got caught by us. That was traumatic for me but she was a trooper. She loved showing off her boo boo but she never went near the VCR again.

One Wink at a Time said...

My goodness that had to be horrible. Thank heavens he's ok! And he looks so little and adorable and helpless in the pic, I got a lump in my throat.

Olivia said...

Poor baby, but he's a tough little one and that picture will be a story for him to learn in later years.

Wrapping him in a sheet is a good idea, I wonder if docs would do that in the west.

Gaz said...

Things like this are so shocking at the time,glad he's ok now.

Pearl Morale said...

My goodness! My heart racing so fast while I was reading this blog entry. I'm so sorry for what the little angel had to go through, but equally happy that he's ok now even though he has to deal with pain. Inshalla he'll recover soon... and you have been nothing but amazing through all of this. I'm glad your SIL was there for you two...
I hope the little one gets well soon. He's grown so much and will continue to grow into a very handsome man :)

LouLou said...

Oh my God! Poor baby. Thank god he's going to be ok.

But he does look cute in this picture.:)

Babies are such a huge responsibility. It is overwhelming for me sometimes just thinking about it.

When I babysite, I am on edge the whole time incase they have an accident and hurt themselves. It's usually only for a few hours.

But when it's your own, you have to relax sometime. You can't be on edge 24/7. I don't know how I'll do it!

Peceli and Wendy's Blog said...

I just caught up with your story and you really handled it well. Poor little guy but this sort of thing does happen. My youngest was about 11 and was picking up a barbell - thinking he was strong - and hit his forehead. And did it bleed! We were in the country visiting friends. We rushed to the hospital and the doc stitched it up without any painkiller.
w.

Um Naief said...

wendy, OMG!!!! w/out pain killer! gives my body chills just to think about it, no kidding. you are a strong mother to handle that because to see your child in pain is so difficult to deal with, so i can only imagine how it would have been if he hadn't been given anything to stop the pain beforehand!

loulou, you'll do better than you think, believe me. i sometimes feel very overwhelmed. motherhood is difficult in many, many ways. but, God gave us women something special, i think. we have a way of handling things... you'll see what i mean.

Rock Chef said...

That sort of thing is terrifying isn't it?

We have found with our kids that they are amazingly calm when something is serious, but make a huge fuss over small things. Hm, I guess we all do that really!

Glad he is OK.

Poor little guy!

Poor little YOU too!

Just Jane said...

Poor baby! And how scary for you! I am so sorry this happened, but stuff like this is going to happen. The only way to prevent accidents is to keep them in a litte bubble and that is no way to live.

I remember my first terrifying "is my baby ok" episode. My son had been sick, vomiting for days. He couldn't even keep a sip of water down. After three days I took him to the doctor because he could no longer even stand or sit on his own. He was severely dehydrated and needed an IV. He was so weak he didn't even cry or open his eyes when they stuck that big needle in his arm. It was horrible, but after two bags of fluid he was doing so much better. I will never forget that.

Hope little Naief is doing well.

The Moody Minstrel said...

Ouch! What a terrible experience! I'm glad mother and child are both okay!

At least a crack on the head is something he can look back on in the future and smile about. It's so much less embarrassing than seating your bare backside on a hot stove (which happened to my son when he was little).

A traumatic moment with your own child can be very surreal.