Monday, June 2, 2008

Burned into our Memory

Rylen is 11 months old today. I have learned so much since he was born. Being a mother, being a wife... growing up. Some of it has been new and exciting, while other things have been scary and tearful. I have also learned a lot about myself and things that I need to focus on. Yesterday was a reminder to me of such a thing.

I am not a neat freak, but I do desire for things to be organized and clean. I just don't always get to it right away. I would probably make life a lot easier on myself if i would just do some of that cleaning or straightening when it is in my hand to do instead of laying it down. I know that in some sense, I am lazy. My dad used to tell me that everyone would always be able to find me because I left a trail of things along the way. There was no denying that I had been in a certain room of the house because inevitably I had left a hair clip or something behind. Funny, my husband told me the same thing just a couple of days ago. Well, though I could just place the blame on my internal personality, it doesn't let me off the hook to change this quirk that I have... The need to change this seemingly minor character flaw came out yesterday.

I don't know why we struggle with certain bad habits. Especially ones that are simple, but can be quite dangerous. Those silly curling irons and flat irons have always plagued me. I leave them on with the possibility that I may need to use it one more time before I leave, but inevitably forget to turn it off. This is not a good habit to have. I could burn the house down! So, i HAVE focused on trying to fix this bad habit of mine. Unfortunately yesterday's incident became the day that I will probably never forget again.

Early Sunday morning, Rylen awakens earlier than usual and Robby takes on his fatherly duty to give him his first bottle. Within the hour, Rylen is rubbing his eyes and ready to fall back asleep. Quite an early first nap, so i take this time to jump in the shower and have some extra time to get ready. I'll even flat iron my hair this morning. I haven't done that in months! All goes well and we all leave for church. On returning home, we all head upstairs to change out of our church clothes and low and behold, ditsy mom forgot to turn off that stupid flatiron! So, I turn it off and proceed to change clothes. Robby comes in to do the same and right behind him Rylen is crawling in the bathroom to join us. Out of the corner of my eye I see Rylen reach for the cords of the flatiron that are hanging within his reach. He begins to flop them up and down and I quickly tell Robby (who is closest to him) "Robby, don't let him play with those..." and the drama begins....the flat iron falls as I say "It's HOT!" the flatiron touches Rylen's bicep. Robby quickly picks up the flat iron and I grab Rylen as he begins to scream and run downstairs to get a cold compress. The skin has come off the bicep burn already. I place the compress on it and try to hold him still and rock him telling him that i am so sorry and i know that it hurts. After he settles a bit and Robby has called the pediatrician, I notice that the way a flat iron is made, it touched his tricep as well! So, i try to put ice on that side and he begins to scream again. Robby makes an ice compress that wraps around his arm touching both spots and velcros so that we are not fighting with him to keep it on. I am walking and bouncing him to try and settle him down. Within a couple of minutes, he's asleep on my shoulder and I begin to cry. What a stupid mom I am. How could I do such a stupid thing. My son was hurt for something I did. We kept the compress on his arm for a good 25 minutes and when he woke up he was surprisingly his happy self. We went to the pediatrician and our little trooper just grinned while they put an ointment on it and wrapped it up with a bandage. The burn was on the minor side of a second degree burn, so hopefully all will go well with the healing process and there won't be any scars. For 5 days now, we get to rebandage his arm with the burn salve and then cover it with neosporin for another 5 days or so.

So, do you think i will forget to turn the flatiron off now? Neither do I. As my brother told me today, "It all started with the closet light not being turned off" Character flaw, lazy, whatever you want to call it. We think that these things don't affect anyone else... As a mother, I now realize even more how they do affect the ones that we love. So, Rylen, once again, I am sorry. I love you.

3 comments:

Nancy Lynn said...

I cringed as I read this. I am glad Rylen is ok. It is a good warning to me. I struggle to stay on top of things too. Piggy has chewed up many a saline bottle I forgot to put away. God is watching over our little ones and it may be an example for me to keep from having this happen to Brooklynn. Kiss Rylen for me and hopefully if we all learn from this incident, we can thank him for taking one for the team. :)

Anonymous said...

First, you are not a stupid mom! You are a great mom who loves her son! I agree it is a good warning sign to us all about the day to day stuff that we do or don't do. I am glad to know that Rylen is okay. Oh man, I must admit when I was reading this, my heart jumped out of my chest in fear. Nothing worst than seeing your child hurt. Have a good one!

Mrs TD said...

Oh no! I am so sorry Rylen got burned. That is so scary! You will probably never forget that feeling when you realized what was going to happen. It's always hard to see your children hurt. I know I will never forget the split second I watched Princess TD fall into the campfire. Being the burn care expert I am :), the pictures look good. Princess TD has healed awesome. Truly answered prayers! In case you were curious, here's what the plastic surgeon told us to do for her: We slathered on the Neosporin covered that with an Adaptic bandage to keep the wound from sticking to the bandage, covered it with gauze and wrapped her arm with Copan bandage. We did it for about a month, so we bought our supplies at a medical supply, but you can get it all at Walgreens. We will be praying for his healing and for no scars.
C