The First Panic & Visiting Auntie Bee (with a side of boobs)

Every parent dreads dealing with a crisis. You think ahead, trying to plan the best way to react. You think you'll know just what to do, and once you come up with that plan you push those thoughts out of your head & hope you'll never have to deal with it.

Munch has had his share of cuts and scrapes. He's bumped his head and shut fingers where they shouldn't have been (what toddler hasn't?). We've had to shout "NO!" at him from across the room and make the mad dash, hoping we get there in time to stop him from doing something dangerous (climbing on the furniture is a new favorite).

None of that prepared us for what happened yesterday.

He woke up from his afternoon nap like normal. He stirred for a few minutes, then began babbling and laughing like he always does. I went in and scooped him up without turning the light on, and brought him back out to the family room. Hubby was making dinner, so we played peek-a-boo around the corner for a few minutes. Then I looked at Munchkin's face and realized his face was covered in blood.

Oh, SHIT. Begin panic.

I immediately yelled for DH. He came running, then doubled back to the kitchen for paper towels as soon as he saw the situation. Thankfully, our neighbor (one of DH's best buddies) is an EMT so DH dialed him while I grabbed a wad of paper towels and tried to clean up Munch's face to assess the damage. My mind was spinning, still stuck repeating the thought how did this happen? Just a minute ago he had been laughing at the peek-a-boo game. Nothing that I could think of could have caused this. He hadn't hit his face during the game, and though I hadn't turned on the light in his room I didn't think he had been bleeding then.

After wiping away the blood, I could see that it was just a nosebleed and not a more severe injury. I was relieved that he didn't seem to be seriously hurt, but I was still in panic mode. It seemed like for every sheet I filled up, there was still more blood gushing our of my baby's nose. There must have been more running down his throat too, because he coughed and sputtered and gagged like he was choking. DH relayed our friend's instructions to me to help stop the nosebleed - lean him forward - pinch his nose - hold a wet rag under his nose.

It seemed like this went on forever, but the bleeding slowed and stopped in just a few minutes. I happened to look down at myself and became aware that I was covered in blood too. The thought registered, but my focus was still on the child in front of me and the thought promptly got pushed out of my head and forgotten. DH was still on the phone with his buddy, and he said that kids this age sometimes get nosebleeds for no reason (& also sometimes for an abrupt change in altitude or for really dry mucus membranes - both of which applied to the situation), and as long as the bleeding was slowing/stopped in 5 minutes we didn't need to go to the hospital. We were well within that window, so after we finished cleaning him up we just made sure he took it easy the rest of the day. He has his 15 month wellness visit tomorrow so I'll make sure to mention it to the doctor then, but it doesn't sound like anything we need to worry about long-term.

Today has been much better. No sign of another nosebleed, and he doesn't seem to have any discomfort from the one yesterday. The two of us drove into town to see one of my besties and have lunch. DH wanted to see her too, but ultimately decided to stay home to work on a few projects. The three of us ended up lunching at Crispers. Two of us had tasty sandwiches, and Munchkin threw most of his macaroni on the floor. He had a great time flirting with his honorary Auntie Bee, and made eyes at all the other women sitting around us. The highlight of the meal was when Munch grabbed the collar of my shirt and yanked it down - he got my bra too, and I think he exposed me to the whole restaurant! I turned 5 shades of red - I don't know if the people around us saw - and I really hope they didn't - but I tried my hardest not to make eye contact with anyone after that!

Now he is sleeping & I'm enjoying some quiet time all by myself - very rare these days! As I mentioned before, I have Monday and Tuesday off this week so my weekend is still only half over! I'm super excited about getting to play Stay at Home Mommy for a few days and I have lots of fun things planned! I can't wait!