Worst. Mother. Ever.

I feel like the worst mother in the world.

Last Sunday I mangled K’s finger in the car window. We were driving along and it got a little chilly (in Newfoundland?!?!) and so I used the automatic window control to put up K’s window ... without realising that he had his finger in between the window and the door of the car (probably wondering what this ‘fresh air’ stuff was).

He screamed. There was blood everywhere. Well, only on his finger, but it seemed like a lot of blood! I lost the plot and had a mini hysterical breakdown. You know the kind? Big body wracking sobs and that feeling that you’re about to throw up everywhere (particularly since I’d just tried to suck the blood off K’s finger before I realised that his nail was hanging ½ off).

Anyway, Dan’s father drove us to the hospital. He went very very fast. So fast in fact, that we were pulled over by a policeman. I tried to explain that Kalani had hurt his finger and it was paramount that we get to the hospital asap since he was obviously in a lot of pain. Of course Kalani was so interested in this car with flashing lights that had pulled up next to us, that he forgot to cry and scream (which he’d been doing pretty constantly since I’d first squashed his finger) and instead serenely stared at the policeman who was giving us a lengthy lecture about the dangers of speeding. Argghh.  

Finally we made it to the hospital where Kalani stopped crying and started dancing instead. Obviously he’s not going to be scarred for life by this event. Several hours, one x-ray and one cleaned and bangaged finger later, we were sent home.

Kalani’s nail will probably fall off, but a new one will grow and this will just end up being a distant memory for him (if he remembers it at all).

I still feel crazily guilty, and from now on I’ll check, double-check and then triple-check all finger/hand locations before putting up the windows in the car. Luckily we live in Newfoundland, so the chance of us needing to put the windows down again are pretty slim. ;)