Even the Kitchen Sink

We had a leak in our kitchen faucet and we decided to replace the whole darn sink. Matt did it all himself. I am so impressed with his growing desire and ability to repair things and improve our house.

The old sink & faucet.

Going to work on the removal.

Oh what a mess!

Looking down through the counter.

The new faucet.

So it's not just Connor who likes to help!

Hi Mom!

The finished product!

So there was a major glitch in the whole thing. Connor, who loves to help with anything, was in the kitchen during all this mess. He was not responding to instruction so I was scolding him (while I was also on the phone with a friend). As he walked toward me he was looking behind him and whimpering because he was in trouble. He stepped onto the edge of the old metal sink (possibly one of the broken metal clips that hold the sink in place) and immediately turned and sliced his big toe open. I guess the cold metal startled him and as he turned the metal just opened his little toe right up. I didn't realize right away that he was hurt because he was already whining. I ended my call, got up and picked him up to take him to the other room. As I picked him up I realized that he was hurt and rushed him to the bathroom where I began rinsing his foot. There was so much blood gushing and I couldn't tell if all his toes were cut or if it was his foot. Once Matt came in with me we determined it was the big toe and that it was very deep. I wrapped his foot up in a towel and sat with him in the rocking chair. I was pretty sure we needed stitches but since Matt's mom (who is a nurse) was visiting I decided to wait until she returned from picking up dinner to check it out. I also told myself that I needed to wait to see if it would stop bleeding in a reasonable amount of time with some pressure & elevation. So we rocked. He got his pacis and we just cuddled and prayed and sang a couple of songs. Julie got back not too long after that and immediately checked out the wound. The bleeding had stopped much sooner than I expected and she was fairly confident that it couldn't be stitched due to the angle of the cut into the toe. She agreed that it was pretty deep though. We had butterfly bandages, gauze and tape on hand as well as antibiotic ointment, hydrogen peroxide and band-aids. Nurse/Grandma Julie went to work on the toe while Connor and I cuddled in his bed and read books. He amazed all of us. This boy has an incredible pain tolerance. He would occasionally fuss or flinch while she worked on him but he never cried or pitched a fit. The next morning I still had a pit in my stomach that we needed to see a doctor so I called the weekend clinic at our pedi's office and luckily she was available to see him that morning! We really love and appreciate our pediatrician and I was so grateful to get to have her look at it. She was very reassuring that stitches were likely not possible in spite of how deep the cut went. She cleaned it again and re-bandaged him. She told me to watch for signs of infection but mostly just to allow time for it to heal. We tried to carry Connor as much as possible on Saturday and when he did walk, he rolled his foot to walk on the outside of it. It kills me to see my kids in pain and there is nothing like seeing them bleed. My stomach is in knots now retelling the story. I might just go sneak into his room and give him another kiss! WARNING! Some of the following pictures might be a little graphic.

The cut wraps from between the big toe and his 2nd toe and goes at a diagonal about 3/4 of the way around.

Yes, I got into his crib. Matt was kind enough to remind me that there is a weight limit on those things and that I exceeded it.

After we got him all cleaned up and bandaged we made the mistake of putting him in his regular seat to eat dinner. With all the downward pressure of his dangling feet, the bleeding began again. After that we were more careful to keep it elevated.

Resting on the couch - watching Buzz & Woody!