One of the scariest moments I have ever experienced with Ava occurred this morning. As I was getting ready for the day, the girls were playing around in my room. They play together every single moment of their lives and this morning proved to be the same routine as any other day. Except today, today would be different. I was in my closet when I first heard a cry of pain from my bedroom. Ava ran to me and she kept saying, "Mommy! My eye. My eye. Sissy poked me in my eye." I held her and immediately looked at her. Whoo! Everything looked okay. No obvious marks on her eye or the surrounding areas. I gave her a hug and a kiss and we headed to the car. When we got in the car, Ava was still rubbing her eye and she was also having a hard time keeping it opened. I thought she might be battling some irritation, especially because she was rubbing it. 

I asked Ava if she could stop rubbing it and she did. She kept her eye shut most of our car ride. After letting her eye rest without rubbing, some ice, and and waiting an hour - things only seemed to be getting worse. It wasn't until Ava actually started bawling in pain that I immediately decided we needed to see an optometrist. Her eye was red, tearing, and my baby was still in obvious pain. Luckily, the optometrist I called was only seven minutes away from where we currently were on the freeway. They immediately got us in after filling out the necessary paperwork ( I was so thankful for this) and started testing the pressure of Ava's eyes. 

After testing the pressure and getting those numbers recorded, they put a numbing agent into Ava's eye. It temporarily relieved the pain she was feeling. They also tested her vision in both eyes (no loss of vision, thank goodness), gave her antibiotic ointment in the eye, and the optometrist was able to show me exactly where the scratch was on her corneal. The scratch appeared as a green stain on her corneal, due to the numbing agent that was dropped into her eye. I felt so terrible for my sweet girl. I know it hurt. She kept telling me it hurt. Ava was a trooper while they examined her eye and she was an even bigger trooper when they continuously had her putting her head back for drops. 

We received a prescription for antibiotics to ensure that her corneal would remain free from infection. Corneal abrasions heal perfectly when there is no threat of infection. Infections can delay the process or even make things worse. Because children often play and explore - their hands are pretty dirty. We had to make sure that Ava didn't touch her eye and that we washed her hands religiously. The rest of the day Ava was in the most pain I have ever seen her in. She was crying, she kept her eyes shut most of the day, and we set her up with lunch in her room she could eat and rest at her own pace. 

I have never been this scared in my life. I was completely helpless. No one wants to hear their baby in pain  but that was pretty much our day. I haven't held my girl this much since she was still a toddler. I didn't want to let go and each time I held her the tears seemed to reduce quite a bit. We kept the house pretty dark and we made sure Ava had a cold compress on her eye at all times. This experience really reminded me that although accidents happen, to be on my toes a little more. Granted, an eye poke likely won't always result in a corneal abrasion, but this experience was enough to remind me that we should not take our children's cries lightly. I never have, but even more now - I couldn't see anything on the surface of my child's eye.. but she was definitely in pain and she needed medical attention. 

The good news for us is that the corneal abrasion should be completely healed in 24-48 hours. Here's hoping my Ava bug has an easy night and sleeps like the little beauty she is.

♥- Leilani

Olivia: First Real "Boo Boo"

I can't believe my seven month old baby girl has already had her first real boo boo. I was so mad - I actually cried. We bought this impossible toy from the baby einstein collection (our baby girl will likely be an early walker. She's showing so many signs.) to encourage Olivia's newest developments... but the legs are just so dang wobbly and certainly not stable enough for a babe to play with on their own. Any who, Justin got home from work fairly early and spent a good chunk of time playing with the girls on the floor. I was on the couch - more than likely browsing the web.. the next thing I know I see Olivia let go of the toy and fall to the ground. All would have been well if she didn't scrap her sweet little nose against the toy on her way down. At first, we waited to see how she'd react. Then I saw it. I saw blood on her nose. It wasn't much.. similar to that of a scratch from her days of flailing... but then I saw that her skin had actually been torn much more than we originally thought. I started bawling.

It doesn't matter how many kiddos you have, or the fact that you KNOW your children will get boo boos. it's just seeing them hurt. No one was at fault - but it didn't make me feel any less terrible. She cried in my arms, nursed after, and seemed to be okay after that. I know this blog is super short, I just wanted to document this. 



♥- Leilani

Protecting Bug

This morning was an extremely tough one (emotionally). Ava smacked her face on the side of her toy chest, and she got her first real "boo boo" on her face. A small scratch on the nose, and I'm almost positive there will be bruising on the side of her eye, and the top of her eyelid. I, of course bawled my eyes out. I really can't stand when people tell me not to cry. When my baby is hurting, I can't help but feel sadness for her. She never really hurts herself like this, and I'm not looking forward to the future spills she will be taking. I wish you all could see how well Ava bug is walking now. She takes off so quickly now. She twirls, and turns, and she is actively trying to run. It's still a little weird for us to have a walking child, but all in all, I love it. Well, this was extremely short for a blog post. I really just wanted to share that Ava got her first real oowie on her face. Every little detail is important to me. Nothing ever feels trivial when it comes to my baby girl.

Happy Saturday all!

♥- Leilani