A Bug Bite

I am sick to my stomach typing this, but it must be said.

This morning when Curie woke up, she called for me as usual. I began making her bottle, as usual. Then she started screaming. Unusual.

I went into her room with the bottle. The light in her room had burned out the night before, so it was still a bit dark in her room. She was in my arms before I realized that her mouth was full of blood.

As I calmed her and held her, I got to a clean, wet washcloth to blot her mouth. She was screaming and choking and blood (shiver) was getting on our clothes and splattering on the floor. Mouths heal quickly, and hers was no exception. The bleeding subsided and she took her bottle.

As the morning went on, she was extra cuddly and occasionally weepy. She didn't eat much breakfast. She cried when she got tired. Also unusual for her. She never did let me have a good look at whatever cheek or lip had been hurt.

After the nap, she seemed 98% better, so I was not worried. I did see a little canker-looking spot on the inside of one cheek. I picked up Nick at the ferry, then dropped him and the big kids off at swimming lessons. I left them the car and Curie and I strollered home. That's when I saw it.

She looked up at me in the stroller with her mouth open. There was a line the length of her four teeth across her tongue. Are you sitting down? It was more than a line. It was a gash. A slot in her tongue. I could see the inside on her tongue. The slash is deep and terrible. I feel terrible.

I called the on-call doctor. She listened, then said that tongues are only sutured in the worst of cases. She thinks that this just needs time. The cut will heal (quickly) from the outside, in. She just needs a few days. I am to feed her soft, mushy foods without salt or vinegar - like you would feed yourself with a tongue injury. She will probably have a scar. I can deal with that.

I can't believe that my poor baby went through this. I am mortified that I didn't know the damage for 10 hours. My comfort is that she is behaving like she's happy and healthy, though she is not sticking out her tongue for anything. Her cries and babbles seem to be the same sounds she has always made.

My theory is that she was standing, holding onto her crib rail waiting for me, slipped, and hit her chin on the rail, tongue out. She was standing again when I got to her. There was no blood in the bed, so I know that I got there quickly. She and I are both in recovery.