Nothing makes you feel bad enough than living with the guilt that you had hurt your own child. On the day that Baby C was hospitalized for yet another UTI attack and had to be put on IV drips last Friday, I had accidentally cut her flesh whilst trimming her finger nails. They say that sometimes when it rains, it pours and I find this adage so true. I have never ever cut my 3 gals’ flesh before when I trim their nails and why of all days, I had to accidentally cut Baby C’s flesh…. of all days and of all my 3 kids? Why must it be Baby C who had already suffered so much pain? Sigh…..
The bleeding was profuse and it took me over an hour to stop the bleeding!! It wasn’t really a deep cut but I didn’t know why the bleeding was so profuse. I heard the sound ‘jhop‘ the second I pressed the nail clipper on her supposedly finger nail. I tell you, I was scared to death that she would bleed to death! I had used the compression method by pressing on the wound but the bleeding wouldn’t stop. Jinx, jinx, jinx… that’s all I could think of on that day. It was a pathetic scene. Baby C already had a bandange and an IV line on her right hand and her left thumb was bleeding profusely with blood everywhere on my clothes and on the floor. Oh gawd, I prayed and prayed so hard that the bleeding would stop. Finally, I bandaged the left cut thumb with some gauze and surgical tapes and the bleeding subsided a tad. Though bandaged, I could still see blood seeping out through the gauze. I was really, really scared and worried! After more than an hour, the bleeding stopped. I felt as though my heart was cut into a zillion pieces. I just can’t imagine how those parents who had accidentally caused the death of their child must have felt. The feeling must have been suisidal!
don’t blame yourself shireen. accident happens. it’s not easy to trim a baby’s finger nails. I’m still finding it hard to trim ashley’s 🙂 i’m sure cassandra won’t remember this incident.
Don’t worry, Shireen…. I’ve cut my all three boys accidentally as well. I was wailing LOUDER than them! In fact, come to think of it..they didn’t even cry! I was the one crying away.
But you’re right about parents accidentally hurting their child, tragically…probably the worst feeling in the world!
The finger ends bleed alot because it is where all the veins meet. That is also why they prick your finger-end to get drops of blood for medical tests. In addition, sometimes you can feel your own pulse at your fingertips hence the blood pressure is stronger and the bleeding takes a long time to stop. You can apply ice on it, which should help slow down the bleeding. But CHOY CHOY, you won’t need to use this method cos it won’t happen again 🙂
Accidents happen. You can imagine how terrible we felt (and still do) when Bryan got scalded.
Btw, I ask my MIL to cut my boys’ nails cos I’m too chicken. haha
one hour??? Gosh….my heart was beating while reading your post 🙁
Its ok. Just be extra careful next time…
also, avoid nail cutting when “on emergency”
Peeps…. thanks loads for the consolation. Really appreciate it.
Rest assured you are not the only parent to have ever done that! It’s unavoidable! Best thing to do is to run the cut under cold water and then put pressure on it. Also, if the child is struggling or moving ard, the bleeding will take longer to stop, but it will. Call me a bad mother but I got my kids trained that if they have a “boo-boo”, they know where to get a bandaid. My daughter, who is higher maintenance, would often put them on bruises too! My friend goes even further..she won’t even let them get a bandaid..she says it gives them too much attention!
Don’t blame yourself too much as I am sure it was not intended. Why not try trimming your baby nail when she is asleep? This way, at least you don’t have to struggle with your bb and try to trim her nail at the same time. I have a hard time trimming my 8 mths old dd too…..she just cannot sit still and I worry very much too when trimming her nail.
omg. poor thing. wen i cut my lil missy’s nails, im always sked that i will ter-cut her flesh. cialat oh me.
It’s normal to blame yourself but she will heal. I had a bad experience when my girl was 18 months old. We were on holiday and I saw a block of wood protruding out from the wall at the hotel coffee house. She wanted to get down and I told myself to be careful of the wood, but just like murphy’s law, she tripped, fell and hit the block of wood, blood everywhere and lost a front tooth and had to go to hospital for stiches. I had sleepless weeks thinking of how I could have avoided it. Looking back, it could have been worst , she could have hurt her eye instead. Now, my daughter looks cheeky with one missing front tooth !
really really gotta be careful in d future…….i learnt a lesson after reading this post while my heart beating & bumping strong…..poor baby & poor guilty mama!!
hope everythg is well now……hug hug & kiss her more pls….
guess you are feeling better over the incident by now ya (since I came so late) 🙂 And I can understand your feelings, I been thru that too. Try not to feel too bad over it ya
gosh… you must be feeling more heartache than anything. i know how painful it is.. i did that too. it’s just an accident. now you’re both fine.