Toe Jam

A week ago, I cut the tiny human's toe nails; I have been doing this for almost six years now and have yet to cause any harm to my children. I clipped Tiny Girl's toes, she never wiggles, and her toes were perfect. The kids went to their BF's that night (Friday) and while I was supposed to get them back Sunday night, we encountered blizzard conditions and our city was put on a level three snow emergency, meaning no cars were legally allowed to be on the road, so my babies had to stay at their BF's house. It was very hard for me to wait until Wednesday night to get them back.....but I was very happy to see their smiling little faces.

Things seemed fine; BF did not say anything had happened with my tiny ones, there was no illness and no injuries while in his care--or at least not that he either a)knew of, or b)cared to share with me. So everything was normal Thursday and Friday. That is, until Friday night. Tiny boy human suddenly could not keep down any food. He was violently ill for hours, and then into Saturday morning when he continued throwing up well into the day. Once he was able to keep food down, I thought for sure everything was calmed down and we were out of the bad luck woods. Boy was I wrong.

Saturday night, I put the tiny humans to bed. We have a routine where I ask them what the bed time rules are and they recite: "Don't talk, don't play, don't get out of bed, go sleepy ni-night!" (The don't get out of bed part means they are not to be messing with the dvd player or TV.....of course they can go potty whenever they want!) So when I heard them talking in their bedroom well after bedtime, I went in to check on them. I was not surprised to find my Tiny Girl in just her pull-up (if you have read some of my previous blogs you understand that my daughter is like a little nudist!) and she was playing with her feet. I told her she needed to get dressed because it is winter and it is chilly and I wanted her to stay warm. She replied by telling me she could not put her jammies on because "this hurts." I was confused and asked her what hurt and she held up her foot. I turned on the light and examined her foot and I was horrified by what I found.

Her big toe was completely infected! It was like it had been clipped more after I had done it, or that it had been picked at around the cuticle. It was so infected that she would not let me or the Love of my Life touch it; it took both of us to hold her down and comfort her to even get a good look at what we were dealing with. After 20 minutes of her screaming and crying, trying to wiggle away from us and applying anti-bacterial cream and a good bandage, I finally was able to get her calmed down and get her back in bed.....after she told me that it happened at her BF's house. I suspect she was picking at her toe and did not want to tell anyone for fear that she had done something wrong and did not want to get in trouble.

After she was back in the nursery and the Love of my Life and I were settled back in the living room, I cried. I felt like a terrible mommy!! I did not see it before then because I lay the kids' clothes out for them and they get dressed on their own and since they have very bad eczema, they only get baths every two or three days to prevent further damage and drying out of their skin. So I felt awful that my beautiful princess was in that much pain for who knows how long and did not say anything to anyone. And of course, with my extreme anxiety, I started thinking of the "what-if's;" what if she had not told me and I had not caught her?--the infection could have gotten so bad that she may have needed it amputated! What would I have done then?? It would have broken my heart so much if anything had ever happened to her!!

However, the good news is that her doctor put her on antibiotics and told us to soak it in warm water and epsom salts and apply anti-bacterial cream with bandages and to just keep an eye on it. With all of that, her toe should be better soon and it will be as if nothing happened! Until then, I'm just hoping she is not in too much pain!