The Imperfect Community

[honeybee]

...we had a very casual family gathering at Robbies grandma's house today to celebrate both his and Ethan's birthdays (since we will be in FL on their actual bdays).

All the kids were playing in the living room (Ethan, Owen, 3yo cousin, 9yo cousin, 16 yo cousin and 18 yo cousin)...being goofy on the floor. I was on the couch flipping through the Sunday ads, Robbie was putting together a toy for his nephew. A lot of people, a lot of talking, a lot of activity.

Suddenly I hear sFIL shouting "NO OWEN, NO!" ... sFIL was pulling pizza out of the oven and Owen had toddled into the kitchen. Before anyone could react Owen put his hand down on the oven door.

Somehow in my hysteria I had the sense to run him into the bathroom and run his hand under the cold water. He was shrieking. I was sobbing. Huge blisters already covered his entire palm.

It was a very bad day.

[Shrimp&Grits]

Oh Melissa how awful! I'm so sorry. How is Owen now? Have you been to the doctors? Is he on any pain medication? Poor, poor little Bean.

{{{Hugs and healing vibes to all of you}}}

[DietCokeHead]

Holy shit! That is so freaking scary. I hope he is not in too much pain. I say drug him up nicely with alternating tylenol and advil. Poor baby!! Those things happen so fast sometimes. Hugs to you and him!

[honeybee]

Yesterday was one of the worst days of my life. Watching Owen flail around in pain...omg. It was awful. I would have rathered someone cut off my leg than have him go through that.

It was Sunday, so the ped's office number transfered us to the after-hours place which directed us to the e.r. They said to keep it cool, slather it in antibiotic ointment and keep giving him Tylenol/Motrin. The Neosporin had pain relief in it, and I think that helped a little.

I'm going to call the ped's office at 10 and check up. I'm really worried about it getting infected.

Today he is playing, eating and acting like normal Owen. Except he's doing everything left-handed and he is keeping his burned right hand all tucked up to his chest.

This is a pic that was taken about 5 hours after it happened. It only shows the largest blister, across the top of his palm, but really every surface of his hand is blistered. If you can picture a handprint, that is how his hand is burned.

That large blister popped during the night, but it's now refilling.


Ughhhh.

And remember, it was only 2 weeks ago the poor guy had a black eye.



My poor baby.

[Rebecca_R]

Awwww, poor guy! (BTW, the pony tail on the top of his head has me cracking up!)

I burned Nate when he was 3 months old. It was so horrible. He got it at a restarant from one of those hot bowls. I had no idea how hot it was and when he screamed out I could not figure out what was wrong with him until my sister screams "his arm!!" It is really hard to keep a 3 month olds arm under running water, their instinct is to just close up their arms to their chests. I felt so horrible, but the good thing was these little guys heal really quickly! There is not even a scar from his burn (which was about an inch long) and it blistered and popped.

When the kids get hurt it is so sad! Give the little guy a kiss for me.

[Scout]

Aw, the poor little guy! And poor you!
See, that is a situation where my need to place blame would get me in trouble, cause I'd be pissed at the FIL, even though it probably wasn't his fault.

[honeybee]

Kristy, I was blaming Fil too. And I knew it wasn't his fault. Then I wanted to blame everyone else in the house becase all the adults (auntIL, SIL, MIL, older cousins) were all playing with him in the living room and I had assumed that they were watching him. In the end I blame myself because I know better than to trust my kids' safety with anyone other than myself and dh.

Owen is going in to the ped to be checked out when he and Ethan wake from their naps.

[Jessica]

Ouch!

Don't worry, you'll have guilt for years and years. Holden cut his forehead when he was about 8 months old and Scott still talks about it because it was under his care that it happened.

Kids heal so quickly though. They are so much purer than us adults and their bodies get to business, ya know?

Are you giving him any ibuprofen?? It's gotta hurt!

[Rebecca_R]

See, that is a situation where my need to place blame would get me in trouble, cause I'd be pissed at the FIL, even though it probably wasn't his fault.

No matter if it's right or wrong, I'd be doing the same. In this house when there are tons of kids running around (and we have get togethers where there are like 8 kids in the kitchen/living room at once) and the oven needs to be opened, another grown up is called in to watch out. That means I can get stuff out of the oven and the other grown up will be behind me making sure no one runs or crawls in. Just today I was making pumpkin seeds and Aaron was crawling around, I strapped him in the high chair while I got my stuff out.

It was TOTALLY an accident, and no one is to blame, but it will probably teach sFIL to look behind him, or make sure someone helps him next time he decides to open a hot oven with that many children running around.

[MainstreamMom]

I'm so sorry Melissa! How scary! I'm glad the little guy is ok!

[mommy2three]

Ugh! D pulled a lamp down on herself when she was two in her sleep and I can STILL hear her screaming; she grabbed the hot lightbulb with her hand and the blisters, OMG the blisters!

Hope he's feeling better real soon....if it helps any just keep praying that he will get all these type of incidents out of his system now while he's still small!

[honeybee]

It was TOTALLY an accident, and no one is to blame, but it will probably teach sFIL to look behind him, or make sure someone helps him next time he decides to open a hot oven with that many children running around.

Grandma's house is weird. It is in an old farm house and the kitchen is very open, there are 3 entrances to it. The oven is right next to one of the doorways, so Owen came up to it from behind/along side it, not in front of it. sFIL had a hot pizza in his oven mit hands, leaning into the oven when he saw Owen coming in and that is when he was yelling, but Owen came forward and put his hand down on it. I really think my sFIL is a moron 99.9% of the time, but there just wasn't anything he could do. However, Owen walked right past auntIL to get into the kitchen and she most certainly could have redirected him. Hindsight.

Dh thinks Owen thought it was a dishwasher. He loves to tackle the dishwasher everytime he sees it open...he even comes running into the kitchen when he hears the clicky-spring noise it makes when opening. I really don't think Owen has ever seen our oven open. When I'm cooking at home with the boys around I always use the back burners of the stove, and if I'm using the oven I put the gate up in the kitchen to block the entrance, or I use the highchair to tie them up. Burns have always been the thing I worry about most.

Anyway. The ped said to keep doing what I'm doing. We might need to take him back in to get it cleaned once the skin starts coming off. She wanted him back in in a week, but we will be gone. I'm very relieved that he doesn't seem to be in any pain from it today. He isn't using it at all, he just tucks in up to his chest, but he hasn't been extra fussy or anything. I'm so very relieved and grateful for that.


I just realized in writing this how similar oven & owen are. I need to go to bed.

[honeybee]

[julymom]

Poor little pumpkin! I hope he heals quickly! I'm petrified og ds getting burned by the stove or oven, so I use that as an excuse not to cook. Actually, he wasn't allowed in the kitchen when we were in Germany, so I didn't have to worry. He is allowed in the kitchen at my mom's (because they have an open floor plan) and I am panicking and acting like a crazy hover woman everytime we cook. My mom opened the oven door to check something the other day and he started runnign towards her and I swear I vaulted the table to get to him before he got to the oven. Scary crap!

Dh and I still have terrible guilt from when he was an infant. My dad flew to Germany to see us and then he and I went to London for a few days (dh took time off work to spend alone with ds, because we knew he was going to Iraq soon). The day we flew back, dh put ds in a little sleeper after his bath that didn't have feet, so he put a pair of socks on him and drove to the airport to get us. Our plane was delayed (of course) and we got in much later than planned and by the time we got home, we changed ds's diaper and put him straight to bed. The next day when I got him up and went to put him in the bath, one of his tiny little toes was almost black. A hair (probably from the dryer) had gotten into his sock and wrapped around his toe. I started freaking out (I was sure he would lose the toe). My dad (who was a medic in the Navy) got the hair out (it was crusted in blood where it dug into his baby skin) and had me put him in the bath to help get some circulation going. It was still daek purple, so my dad told me to take him to the ER. I called dh at work (sobbing that my baby was going to lose a toe) and he was home in about 3 minutes. At the hospital it was like a tug-o-war over who got to hold him. The toe was fine, but they gave us some cream to keep it from getting infected. Dh and I felt so guilty! We inspected everything we put on him for months and months afterwards. I still get panicky just thinking about it! ARGH!

(((((HUGS to Mommy and Owen)))))

[Rebecca_R]

July mom,

Isn't it odd how hair can get wrapped around like that?! I think it's happened to Nate before. It's so weird! Glad to hear his toe was fine.