As a new parent, there are plenty of things to be anxious about. Mostly you’re wondering whether you’re doing something for your child the right way, or whether you’re forgetting to do something entirely.
Until… Many parents (most, perhaps?) unfortunately get to experience another unpleasant scenario, where your child has an issue and there’s nothing you can do about it.
It’s a horrible, horrible feeling.
Let me give you a for instance… When Diane was little, maybe 5 years old, Mary was giving her a bath in the tub and Diane slipped getting out. She slammed her chin on the lip of the tub, and it opened a cut. It wasn’t life-threatening, but tell that to a 5-year-old.
I don’t think I’ll be embarrassing her to say that she cried. A lot. And that was hard to take as a parent. We comforted her as best as we could, but she clearly needed medical attention so we bundled her up and rushed to the local hospital.
Editor’s Note: I hate emergency rooms. Oh, I like the idea of them well enough. My problem is that, no matter what I go there with, there always seems to be somebody way worse off than me. This conflicts with my selfish interests to get my pain taken care of, and my hatred of having to wait. It’s a bad combination.
Anyway, we sat in the emergency room for a while with bloody gauze on her chin, wet with her tears. This was, as I mentioned, hard to deal with as a parent. But it wasn’t the worst part, by far.
When our turn finally came, we brought Diane into a screened area for examination. The diagnosis was straightforward – she had a cut under her chin and needed a few stitches to close it up.
BUT…
We had to leave her there with the doctor (or nurse, I forget which.) We had to leave our baby alone, amidst her trauma. We had to stand there in the emergency room while she screamed the entire time she was stitched up, and we were powerless to do anything.
It was a really sucky feeling. When we finally got home, we all needed some comfort.
I don’t wish that feeling on anybody.