The ULTIMATE mom fail.

I knew it was bound to happen, but when it did, let me tell you, it was terrible. My sweet perfect little angel baby finally got hurt. And the worst part- it was my fault.

Macy was taking her morning nap and I was getting ready in my room. Our bedrooms are connected through a bathroom (Jack and Jill style) and I didn't want to get ready in the bathroom in case I woke her up. Instead I decided to get ready in my room, on the floor, in front of the mirrored closet doors. I curled my hair and did my make up , and once Macy woke up I quickly got up and got her bottle ready, brought her to my room and fed her. We were going to meet a friend for lunch so I was kind of in a rush. Once she was done with her bottle I put her down on the floor so I could get dressed. She loves to play in my make up and I just didn' think twice when she crawled that way. Honestly, I even forgot that my curling iron was still on. Before I knew it she screamed- a painful shrill- and when I looked down at her she was right by the iron. Many explicit thoughts ran through my mind- AHH oh my gosh shoot shoot shoot. I quickly scooped her up and assessed her hands, but I saw nothing. She literally only cried for less than 10 seconds and squirmed out of my arms so she could continue playing. After that I got her dressed and we headed out the door. I thought to myself "phew- that could have been bad!"

Once we were at my friend Lindy's house I told her how Macy must have quickly touched my curling iron, but luckily nothing happened. About 30 minutes later while we were eating Macy crawled toward Lindy and she gasped, "Ashley! I see it! Her burn.. it's bad!" I about choked on my chicken and quickly grabbed her and was devastated when I saw it. Her poor wrist was blistered and red. Yes, I am a pediatric nurse, yes, I am in NP school... No, I had no idea what to do. Burns are definitely not my specialty. I called my pediatrician and the nurse told me to just cover it with some Neosporin or Silvadine keep it wrapped and she should be fine.

This is what the burn looked like when I first noticed it. Absolutely broke my heart, she of course was fine.

Poor little blistered arm.

This is the burn the next evening. I thought that it looked better.

I took the above picture in to work with me on Friday and started asking some opinions. I ended up on the Burn Unit and spoke with the charge nurse who told me I need to bring her in "right away". They were only open until 1pm and weren't open again until Monday and I couldn't leave it untreated that long. Let me tell you, that was a blow- first I am a bad mom for letting it happen, second I am a bad mom for not bringing her in to get in treated! Ah! I was able to leave work and go pick her up and bring her back to the Burn clinic where the debride it and put on a medication that would help it heal better.

At her first doctor appointment in the burn clinic. She clearly was not phased!

Macy with her bandage. She ignored if for the first week, but then became increasingly obsessed with taking it off.

We went in again the following Monday and they were happy with the progress, told us to keep doing the same thing and come in again on Friday.

The burn after a couple of days of using Santyl.

On Friday they saw it and were very happy with her progress. Now we are just applying Eucerin and a dressing to keep her from playing with it.

I'm going to be just fine mom!

Macy was great at letting them do the dressing changes!

All in all it was a pretty terrible experience. I have never felt such pain in my heart before, and even though in the big picture her burn is minimal, I had a very hard time shaking the mommy guilt that came with it. Several seasoned moms have comforted me by saying how it happens to everyone and telling much scarier experiences they have had. It was an eye opener though can only pray that God keeps her safe from harm no matter where she is the rest of her life. I pray that I have the wisdom to help keep her safe and that I will always be the one who protects her, not harms her!

So there it is. My major mom fail experience. Lesson learned: TURN OFF YOUR CURLING IRONS WHEN YOU ARE DONE WITH THEM. Something I have taken lightly, until now of course.

At the end of the day my sweet smiling energetic baby is going to be just fine and for that I am grateful. I just love her to pieces!