The I'm-so-upset-I-Can't-Breathe Cry!

Babies are constantly injuring themselves... Or moms are constantly accidentally injuring babies!

Nail trimming... an accident waiting to happen! I can remember one such occasion quite

 clearly... Kyle and I were on our way to the Superstore and I thought I should wait for Sienna to fall asleep in the car and then clip her nails! Pretty standard, as babies don't usually put out their hand like they're at a nail salon and say "I like them square and short..." Anyway, she finally dozed off in the car and I started clipping away, one by one, I was doing quite well when all of a sudden I clipped her skin! GASP!!! She immediately started screaming, and not just any scream, the scream where she cries, sucks in as much air as possible, then ceases to breathe for about ten seconds, then screams DOUBLE TIME! Of course her little tiny thumb is gushing blood (okay, not gushing, but a steady flow of drips, terrifying to a stupid mom who though clipping nails while in a moving car on the highway was a great idea!) So now not only is she crying but so am I, and Kyle is telling me to calm down (don't you hate it when Dad's are so relaxed in a moment of chaos!) as I am wrapping Sienna's thumb in a tissue and applying pressure... Ten minutes later, she is back to her smiley self and I am trying to hide her cut thumb from Superstore shoppers just in case they call child services on me!

Another such occasion where I injured my lovely sweet girl was one week before our wedding. Planning your dream wedding with a new baby is not advisable by the way... I was so completely stressed and worrying about getting all of those minor details in place that I walked Sienna's-head-first into a mail box... Yup WORLD'S WORST MOTHER AWARD GOES TO... I immediately looked at her face and she was in absolute fits! She was flailing one of her arms about and I thought "SHIT!!! I have broken her arm! She is going to have a cast on at our wedding and everyone is going to think I am a terrible Mom!" I started touching her fingers and gently moving her limbs and was relieved when she didn't scream more! I called my mom and told her, whilst bawling right in the middle of my street, what had happened... She said "oh dear, talk to Dad, here he is" and I told my Dr. Dad what I had done, he said "where were you trying to send her, ha ha!" Typical Dad, always ready to make light of a situation (thanks for not putting that in 'the speech' Dad)... Luckily I was on my way over to my parents house when this happened! Just when Sienna has calmed down, I notice a large purple goose egg forming above her non-existent eyebrow! "SHIT!!!! She's going to have a big goose egg in all of our wedding photos!!!!!!" Upon arrival at my parents house we put ice cubes on her little bump and it slowly disappears, crisis averted, still a vivid nightmare when I think back to that day!

The no breathing cry came again just about a month and a half ago when I was on the computer and Kyle had just walked in the door... Sienna was having a nap in our bed, surrounded by pillows, when suddenly we heard a scream! Kyle opened the door to our bedroom and a parents worst nightmare had occurred, she was in the crawling position on the floor, she had tragically fallen three feet, head first on to the hard floor below... This was quite possibly the worst cry I had ever seen/heard, she was having a panic attack, taking short little gasps and her body was twitching, and tears were streaming down her face, and mine! She hadn't made a sound to alert us that she had woken up as she usually does... I can only imagine she was thinking "I know! I will go surprise mommy and daddy in the living room instead of getting them to come pick me up!" and CRASH, on to the floor she went :( poor little munchkin....

Now that Sienna is crawling and pulling herself up to stand she pretty much always has a bruise on her forehead... As soon as one is starting to disappear, she bonks her head again and it is back! Just the other day, she was doing her usual window scale move when her hand slipped and she hit her head on the wooden frame! I had just left the room to go to the washroom, she was in good hands though, Daddy was right there, just about to pick her up, when I heard a BANG! followed by a deep breath and screams! She had an immediate dent in her forehead. Unfortunately applying ice doesn't work as well as it used to, she immediately pushes it away once administered to the bruise, clearly thinking, "I don't want this bruise to go away! I want everyone to know that you two are useless baby proofers allowing me to smack my head on anything and everything in sight!"

I am sure, as Sienna continues her exploration of the world, we will hear a lot more screams and see a lot more bruises, but it never gets easier hearing and seeing them in pain!