I will never forget that scream

Layla got burned with boiling water today.  Rather, I burned Layla with boiling water.  And she screamed like you never want to hear your child scream in your entire life.  The water hit her in several places, but when it initially happened, I thought it was mostly contained to her hands.  So my initial response was to rush her to the sink and get cold water on her hands.  After a few seconds, I got her shirt off her.

Here's what I've learned through this whole ordeal of a horrendous day.  First, when they say accidents can happen like THAT *snap finger*, it's the god's honest truth.  Second, if your kid is burned, get their clothes off them immediately, cause it traps the boiling water and causes much more significant burning.  Third, burns hurt like a motherfucker.  Now, you hear this all the time, but I am telling you that this poor child was hurting.  Badly.

And through it all, Layla was a trooper.  From yelling at us that she needed to go to the doctor, to insisting on standing in the bathroom, on a stool, with her hand submerged in cold water.  Even to the point where she was falling asleep on her feet.  With the appearance of a huge blister, I loaded her up to bring her to see the doctor.

Why does the doctors office always have to be such a traumatic experience?  She would let them soak her hand in the bleach water, but she wouldn't let them near her elbow.  AND come to discover, she has another burn on her stomach that I don't think her body has even let her feel yet.  Fortunately, that one doesn't appear to be too bad.  The nurse was finally able to get the elbow irrigated with some bleach water and salved and wrapped.  All the while Layla sat screaming for her daddy.  Stick the blade in and turn Layla, I couldn't feel any worse.

When I got her home to Mike and ran out to fill the prescriptions, she fell asleep on the couch.  And there she lay, looking pathetic and miserable.  Damage in all won't be known for a day or two, but it looks like first degree burns on her right hand/fingers and second degree on her left forearm and elbow.  It's possible that her hand is worse and will blister, but I'm hoping for the best.  Not sure about her stomach yet.

I could have permanently disfigured my kid today.  I could have burned her face and neck.  It could have been so much worse.  I was feeling pretty good about my cute little kid after taking a nice picture of her yesterday.  Now I'm just glad that that picture isn't the last that we have of her pre-incident that we look back on with sadness.  Epic parenting fail.