1 year...

It was a year ago today that I experienced the most frightening mommy moment of my life.  We had just returned home from visiting Mr. Steady's family on the East Coast.  We had some of our dear friends staying at our house for the next week.  They had their dog with them at our place, which was fine, because we had been around their dog before.  Then in an instance everything changed.

We don't know exactly what happened that aggravated the dog to bite H, because no one saw it happen. H was in the room where the dog's food was, and the dog's food bowl was upside-down after the bite happened. Our assumptions are that in some way the dog felt threatened having H by it's food. Our friend's who's dog it is felt absolutely awful.  I was upstairs nursing Bug, when I heard H scream from downstairs.  I set her down and ran down the stairs as our friends were carrying H up, with his face covered in blood.  I think my heart stopped for a second!  We brought him to the sink and wiped away the blood to see where the injuries were.  All the while H was still very upset.  It was not nearly as bad as it had looked once we got the bleeding to slow down.

H was such a trooper! He was absolutely traumatized when it happened, as any of us would be. I really can't imagine! He cried for the first 20 minutes while we were at home and then on our way to the doctors. Once at the pediatrician he never even complained, not a whimper or tear. The pediatrician told us to head up to Children's Hospital because H would have to be sedated for the stitching. . H was sedated for an hour, and ended up with 16 stitches. 13 external and 3 on the inside of his upper lip, where his gums meet the lip.

The sedation was the hardest part for me. I was queasy, sad, overwhelmed, worried about H, yet thankful at the same time that this was all that we were there for. I really can't describe what it felt like to have my baby laying on a table, hooked up to and IV, lots of monitors on him, his little body shaking and moaning (side effects from the sedation drugs), being irrigated, suctioned and stitched up, with a breathing bag on his chest in case something went wrong. And keep in mind that I knew that this was all just minor stuff. I really can not even begin to imagine what parent's feel like when their child is having life-threatening issues. 

 H, the morning after the stiches, face all swollen around eye and his upper lip

The doctors kept saying over and over again that this could have been so much worse.  The way cuts in his skin looked, it appears as if the dogs upper teeth were right under H’s eye, and the dog’s lower jaw was actually inside H’s upper lip….  If the dog would not have released it’s bite before it pulled away, H would be missing an entire section of his face.  Thank you Lord, for watching over my little boy!

The physical scars are still visible, especially the one under his eye.  People keep telling me that scars on a guy are “cool,” or some have even said “sexy.”  I sure hope he thinks so as he gets bigger.  H still has a fear of dogs, but is doing much better each month that has passed.  At first, he couldn’t be anywhere near a dog.  A simple bark would send him jumping into my arms.  Now, if we are at a friends house with a dog, he will ask if the dog can go outside or if he can play somewhere the dog can’t be by him.  When we are on a walk, and a dog is coming he will come right up next to me, knowing that I will protect him if need be.

Pictures from today

Picture 1- scar under his nose, picture 2 scar is small bumps under his eye

Oh, if I could go back in time and change that evening, I would.  But I can’t, and this is just a little part of H’s story, of God's faithfulness in his life.  This was so minor in light of all some children have to face.  Every time I look at his scars I am reminded that this could have been so much worse and that God really was watching over him and protecting him.  I pray that I don’t have to watch one of my kids deal with anything worse, I don’t know if I am strong enough!