A Busted Lip and Blood Make an Upset Toddler & Mommy

If that title doesn't make you want to read, I don't know what will.

Last night my almost 2 year old DD (internet speak for: dear daughter) was standing at the door, waiting for her Daddy to come back inside from chopping wood.

After about 20 minutes, he ran out of daylight and had to come back in. As soon as he walked in, I looked over and saw DD suddenly disappear. I didn't think twice about it. I figured she just sat down or stumbled and fell on her bottom.

Then I saw hubby's face. His eyes got really big and he scooped her up immediately. Meanwhile DD is holding her breath (normal thing for her when she gets hurt) then starts screaming once she actually breathes. Hubby says she hit her head right on the corner of the couch. I'm thinking, weird, she hits her head all the time and just keeps going, she never cries like that.

After she had been crying for a few minutes, we look at her head to see if there is a bump. Wrong. She has busted her lip, or bit it, just something because there is blood all over her mouth and in her mouth. There is blood on hubby's shirt.

I run to grab some ice to put on her lip because it's starting to swell. She screams harder and won't let me put it on there. I try handing her chilled teethers. She won't have those either. So there I am holding a bleeding, screaming child who won't let me do anything to help her.

She has busted her lip before, but it wasn't as bad as this time. The last time, I didn't do well at all. First, let me explain that I don't do well with the sight of blood. As a child, I hated loosing teeth because I would have the taste of blood in my mouth and it would make me nauseous. I would get queasy and feel like I was about to pass out. I thought my own blood was the only blood that bothered me, until DD busted her lip the first time. It was scary to see DD bleeding and screaming. I was shaky after that first time, and it took me a good 10 minutes to calm back down.

This time however, I wasn't freaked out. I just wanted to comfort my baby and hold her as long as she needed holding. Mommies don't get to be queasy when their child is injured. They have to jump into action without even thinking twice.

The lesson I learned from all of this? NEVER run out of Infant's Tylenol and Baby Orajel. You will need it sometime, and chances are, when you are completely out, you will need it.

Here is her swollen lip. This picture is from today. It looked a lot worse last night. (Oh, and please excuse her messy mouth, she just had a snack, haha). See how swollen her left side is? Poor thing.