Red Alert (blood mentioned)

I was excited and happy, feeling the thrills of the beginning of the weekend. Sharing the exhilaration of Mr's Primary School night Marathon at which both Mr and Madam Fluff (who just couldn't help herself and participated anyway) showed their athletic abilities or in Kade's case the lack there of, he found it way more fun strolling around the school field twirling and tossing his relay baton in the air, dropping it, picking it up, realising he was actually there for a purpose and jogging a few meters, then continued twirling the baton, in fact when Madam Fluff was running along with him, she spent half her time literally dragging him around the track.

Saturday was spent trying to keep hydrated and cool but still enjoy a fun day at home, myself, my mother and the kids. I kept thinking to myself how it was such a pity that Mark had to be away for business this weekend, he was missing some awesome stuff.
I set the sprinkler up next to the slide and the kids loved speeding down the slide and then skidding off down the grass looking somewhat like little bobsledders on turf. Not wanting to get any grass burns or grazes, I place their slip-n-slide at the end of the slide and they squealed with delight at the now super long slide that seemed to reach to the end of the garden.

While attempting to be in three places at once; the kitchen, quickly warming up dinner, the bedroom, "just quickly" looking at something Mr was building and the bathroom where Snuggle Bug was rinsing off all the dirt and grass, Red Alert, panic!

As I walked into the bathroom I found him up on the side of the bath peering out of the window, playing some sort of peek a boo game with Fluff, who was outside. "No, No, No, I don't think so" and I carefully took him by the hand to lead him back down safely into the bath. Slipping and sliding was just too much fun and he attempted to slip down the side of the bath which ended up with him landing , really landing, literally landing on the tap handle. He gave me this strained look with little eye's filled with fear and grabbed at his buttocks. I thought he had just given it a knock and probably bruised the little buns on his slide down, when I tried to lift him, it was at that point I realised he was stuck, on the tap handle. Millions of the worst possible visions filled my head and more that didn't want to fill my head and I let out a blood curdling scream " MOOOOOOOMMMMEEEEEEE". My mother came rushing into the bathroom, took him from me while I reached for a towel, we rushed through to the lounge, wrapped him up and sat him on my Mother's knee in an attempt to calm him and then to see what, if any, damage had been done. Mr. was the first to notice the blood dripping down my Mom's white pants, we flipped him over, pulled his little buns apart and revealed a gaping wound. I felt like letting out another blood curling scream, my heart pounded in my chest and in my throat and it's pace quickened at a speed I couldn't keep up with, my body began to weaken as the blood drained from it and the ends of my fingers began to tinkle, I felt drunk in my head. I managed to let out a shout to the kids to get in the car.

The Medi-clinic is about a 5 minute drive from my house and it felt like the longest five minutes of my life. With my heart still out of control, my shaking body and hands fighting to keep control of the steering wheel we made it to the E.R. I announced myself and my situation to the nurse and we were hurried into the procedure room. Thank you Lord that the bleeding had stopped.
At that moment I realised poor Snuggle Bug was still in the bath towel and that the bag I had thrown together with nappies and clothes, I think, was still waiting patiently for me on the kitchen counter along side the dinner which was now only half prepared and where was my cell phone? The E.R. Nurses checked his wound, gave me the forms to fill out, and assured me someone would be there shortly.

An hour had passed by and Snuggle Bug, my brave, very brave little hero, was lying stomach down on my chest with his little head snuggled into my shoulder. Someone passed by and I called to her, "please" I asked as politely as I could "is somebody coming?". "I'm sorry" she replied "we've had an emergency, a patient has stopped breathing, a doctor will be with you shortly." I sighed, I cried softly so as not to let Snuggle Bug see my distress and while not wanting to be selfish, heartless or thoughtless my mind kept saying, "but what about my baby?"
I prayed and softly cried some more, I asked my little brave heart if he was alright and he let out a little whimper "mmmm" he let out with a sniff sniff and a quivering bottom lip, tears welling up in his little blue eyes, I held him as close as I possibly could and cried and prayed some more.

Almost two hours later a surgeon came through to look at "this laceration". I explained what had happened and was told that by the Grace of God, this was not as serious as it could have been. He proceeded to matter-of-factly-medically-textbookly inform me how serious this could have been. He had a gash about 3cm long between his anus and the base of his spine. Had the tap lodged itself 3 cm in any other direction, we could have been repairing a torn rectum or damaged spine. Thank you Lord that it isn't. Although the surgeon assured me that where the laceration was, and as long and as deep as the "gash" appeared, it didn't need suturing. I kept asking for his reassurance and he reiterated that because the wound was in the crease of the buttocks, it would naturally close itself. Suturing is only required when the gash is gaping and needs to be physically held together in order to heal. I was sent home with orders on how to keep the wound clean with the antiseptic ointment now clutched in my hand and instructed to come back in a few days to ensure that no infection had set in.

Two and a half hours after our ordeal began; feeling drained, tired, relieved, racked with guilt and remorse for having had this happen to my child on my watch; with three very tired and hungry children and one very sore one, we head home. Mr and Madam Fluff told me how that asked Jesus to keep Snuggle Bug safe and make sure he wasn't too badly hurt and I let out a little prayer thanking God that my Snuggle Bug wasn't more severely hurt and although he can't be as rough and tough as he usually is for a while, he will recover and for that I thank God.